Broken Mask
by PaperKat
Summary: A figure from Kurama's past has come to light. Why does she want to kill him?
1. one

Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine,   
except Kamen, so please don't sue me.  
I have no money anyway!  
  
  
BROKEN MASKS  
by Kat  
  
  
Kurama paced restlessly in front of the  
double doors that led to the inner chamber of  
Mukuro's mobile city. The fact that Kurama was in  
the heart of what many people would call his  
enemy's capital was not a reason to be alarmed.   
His pacing on the other hand, would set anyone  
that knew him on edge. Kurama seemingly never  
worried about anything. He always held an air of  
confidence, even when it looked like he was on the  
losing side of a battle. For Kurama to openly  
display his troubled mind was a very good reason  
to be alarmed.  
  
"You know, Kurama, wearing the floor out  
isn't going to make Mukuro come out any faster,"  
Yuusuke said as he leaned against the wall, facing  
the doors. He glanced down both ends of the  
hallway, noting the nervous guards with little  
interest. Right now his attention was on a very  
agitated youko in front of him.  
  
Kuwabara sat cross legged on the floor, with  
his elbow on his knee and his chin in his hand.   
His eyes followed Kurama as he continued to pace.   
He too gave the impression that he was bored and  
he would rather be somewhere else, though he was  
the first to say he was coming.  
  
"Yeah, Kurama, give it a rest. It isn't like  
the shrimp can't take care of himself," Kuwabara  
stated with a yawn.  
  
Kurama stopped his pacing to stare at the  
closed doors. he thought,  
  
Kurama fingered the folded paper in his pocket.   
Both Yuusuke and Kuwabara had received the same  
note from Mukuro. All the note said was that Hiei  
had been missing for a week and, if they wanted to  
help find him, they were welcome to come.  
  
At first Kurama hadn't been too worried that  
Hiei was missing. After all, there had been times  
when he hadn't heard from Hiei for twice that  
amount of time. Hiei was very capable of taking  
care of himself. What worried him was that Mukuro  
had pulled out all the stops to find Hiei. What  
scared him to death was that Mukuro felt the need  
to arrange transportation for the three of them,  
pulling some not so small strings in the process.   
She had even given Yuusuke and him complete  
immunity in her lands until Hiei was found.  
  
Kurama's thoughts were interrupted when a  
very frantic youkai came flying out of the room  
running into Kurama, "Mukuro-sama will see you  
now," was all he said before continuing down the  
hallway.  
  
Yuusuke pushed himself from the wall and  
walked into the room, " About damn time. Maybe  
now we can get some answers." Kurama certainly  
hoped so.  
  
==========================  
  
Mukuro watched the trio walk into the room  
with a clinical eye. Yuusuke seemed aloof, but he  
kept his eyes trained on her ready to do battle if  
necessary. Kuwabara, the one she always  
considered an idiot in the extreme, walked in the  
room only a few steps behind. His eyes went to  
all corners of the room watching for an ambush or  
hidden adversaries, watching Yuusuke's back.   
Maybe it was time she updated her image of that  
one. Kurama slowly entered the room, not out of  
caution she saw, but in a distressed haze. she thought as she stepped  
closer to them.  
  
"Ok, Mukuro, what the hell is going on?!"  
Yuusuke demanded, right to the point as always. A  
thin smile came to her mouth as she tried to hide  
her irritation at being addressed in such an  
insolent manner.  
  
"As I said in the message, Hiei has been  
missing. I sent him out on a routine scouting  
run. When he didn't come back in a reasonable  
amount of time, I sent someone out to locate him,"  
Mukuro answered. She turned and walked over to a  
table, where a neatly wrapped bundle lay. "All  
they found was a field of charred youkai and  
this." She hand the bundle out for them to take.   
  
Neither Yuusuke nor Kuwabara moved forward to  
take the package. Kurama pushed his way in front  
of them and took the offered bundle. He slowly  
unwrapped the coarse cloth to reveal Hiei's  
bloodied cloak and sword. Kurama fingered the  
ruined cloak with unease. A look Mukuro could not  
identify passed over Kurama's eyes as he looked to  
Yuusuke. Yuusuke had not looked away from Mukuro  
during the entire display; Kuwabara looked for  
him.   
  
"Kuso, you must have something more than that  
to drag us all the way out here. That little baka  
could have just left those things there after the  
fight, or lost them during the fight if he used  
kokuryuuha. What's the real reason you brought us  
here?" Kuwabara added his accusing glare to  
Yuusuke's. Mukuro thought,   
  
"You're right, that wasn't enough to peak my  
interest. I wasn't even going to continue looking  
until one of my people said they sensed Hiei in  
two different places at the same time day before  
yesterday. When my man went to investigate,  
several small villages on both my lands and  
Yuusuke's were completely destroyed by what can  
only be Hiei's Kokuryuuha," she said as she waited  
for their responses.  
  
Yuusuke didn't move or comment on the  
information. Kuwabara eyes and mouth gaped open  
like a dead fish. she amended, Kurama was the one to  
question.  
  
"Are you sure it was Hiei? Could there have  
been a mistake?" he asked with little emotion.   
Mukuro  
thought.  
  
"There's no mistake. My people don't make  
mistakes like that. If they did they wouldn't  
live to repeat them,' she stated calmly. "I've  
already sent for the best tracker I know to locate  
Hiei, but she can't do it alone. That's why you  
are here."  
  
"I don't understand. If this tracker is so  
good why does she need our help?" Yuusuke barely  
kept the sarcasm out of his voice. Mukuro gave  
another wane smile.  
  
"Kamen uses a combinations of memories,  
personal objects, and energy patterns to track.   
Since there is only one other besides the four of  
us that has gotten close to Hiei she's going to  
need all of us to help her get a fix on his  
location ," Mukuro said, wishing that Kamen would  
hurry up. Mukuro's patience was already wearing  
thin, and she was going to need all her composure  
to handle Kamen when she realized who her guests  
were.  
  
"I don't understand how she's going to do  
that? Why me? Who's the other person? Why..." as  
Kuwabara continued to rapidly fling questions  
Mukuro rethought her earlier opinion,   
  
=====================  
  
Kamen quickly made her way down the hallways  
to the inner chamber. She hoped Mukuro didn't want her spy on  
Yomi. That kind of job was not a healthy way to  
live. Kamen came to a halt in the shadows by the  
double doors. A pleased smile formed as she continued  
her thoughts   
  
Kamen moved from shadow to shadow, always  
making sure that her hair remained covered as she  
had been taught. If a single ray of light fell on  
the golden locks it would be like a beacon  
shouting 'Here I Am. Come Get Me'. At one time  
she had entertained the thought of cutting it all  
off, but Mukuro had made her promise to never cut  
it. So now Kamen always had to make sure that her  
hair was kept closely wrapped and pinned to her  
head, or someone might use it against her in a  
fight.   
  
As Kamen came closer to the doors she could  
hear a heated argument between Mukuro and a voice  
she could not recognize. Kamen pulled a dagger from the  
sheath on her left forearm, and checked the  
poisoned pins in her hair. If she was going to be  
pulled into a fight then she was going to make  
sure she was ready.   
  
She opened the door enough so that she could  
see Mukuro and the man she was arguing with.   
Kamen could see that he was much taller than  
herself with short, curly, red hair. The top of  
her head probably would only reach the middle of  
his broad chest. His face was a comical shade of  
pink as he continued to yell at a woman that could  
kill him with a thought. For that reason she  
liked him immediately. Anyone that would give  
Mukuro as good as she gave was worth liking.  
  
As the argument became more heated Kamen was  
shocked to see him unwittingly gather power that  
hummed as only a human's power could. The fact  
that Mukuro was having a yelling contest with a  
human instead of just killing him surprised her  
enough that she didn't notice the other young man  
until he stepped in between the two combatants.  
  
This one had the feel of death and rebirth, a  
soul that was just slightly out of line with his  
body. He carried himself in a way that was  
familiar to Kamen, though she couldn't see how  
that could be. It was obvious that this new one  
was trying to defuse the situation, but the more  
he talked to the tall one the angrier he became.   
The whole scene was so ridiculous that Kamen  
decided to just walk in and make a grand entrance.  
  
The door swung open with a push of her hand.   
Out of habit her eyes scanned the rest of the room  
then stopped. In the back of the room, holding a  
bundle was another young man. His hair was long,  
hanging halfway down his back, the color of  
freshly spilled blood. His emerald green eyes  
were set in a face that could only be called  
beautiful. His human clothing only enhance his  
looks from beautiful to heart stopping. The only  
thing that distracted from his looks was his  
sorrowful expression. He was so gorgeous that any  
girl would kill to have him. Kamen would kill for  
the chance to end his hateful existence forever.  
  
Her right hand gripped the cold dagger  
tighter, the other pulled two pins from her hair.   
He was totally preoccupied and an easy target.   
All she had to do was throw the pins and by the  
time she took the few steps that separated them  
the poison would have taken effect. He would be  
completely paralyzed and her blade would easily  
slit his pale throat from one silken sidelock to  
the other. As she readied her hand to throw she  
imagined his blood flowing from the wound making  
the floor the same color as that lovely hair.  
  
=====================  
Well, here it is, the first chapter. You guys  
said you wanted it.  
(If you start throwing things and I'm knocked unconscious I  
can't finish the story : ) ) Anyway comments and replies  
are welcome. 


	2. two

Here is chapter 2. I proofed it myself so be warned!  
All conments are welcome, but please don't hit me.  
I didn't do it Kamen did.  
  
Again: None of these people are mine, except Kamen.  
  
  
Broken Masks: Chapter Two  
by Kat Aubuchon  
  
  
  
  
Hiei cursed himself seven kinds of a fool.   
He should have known better.   
He should have seen the trap coming. He should  
have been more careful. He should have been  
smarter than that.   
  
Since he couldn't move a muscle he decided to  
mentally kick himself for falling for a trap that  
even Kuwabara could have seen though. He had been  
scouting like Mukuro had asked him to do, when he  
was ambushed. There had been about fifty low  
class youkai, nothing that he couldn't handle, and  
he had been handling it well when he felt what he  
thought was a familiar presence.   
  
In the middle of the mass of remaining  
youkai, Yomi stood waiting. In retrospect Hiei  
realized what he did wrong, he panicked. Instead  
of waiting for Yomi's first move, he had lunched  
into his most powerful attack. As the black  
energy coursed and snaked its way forward the  
youkai that had stood in its path were vaporized.   
They would disintegrate before the front of the  
attack even touched them, but as it hurled its way  
toward Yomi it began to change. Instead of   
screaming its rage, it began to slowly spiral and  
funnel into the every center of Yomi's chest. The  
sheer magnitude of the energy Hiei expelled made  
the figure waver and dim. That's when Hiei  
realized that the form before him was an illusion.   
  
Hiei tried to stop his attack, but the figure  
was now drawing the energy into itself. It was  
impossible for Hiei to stop it from draining all  
the energy it wanted. As always Hiei could feel  
his eyes drifting closed as more and more of his  
energy was pulled from him. He never got to see  
the face of his attacker be for he fell  
unconscious.  
  
Hiei tested the bonds that held him immobile  
for the hundredth time. His body was stretched to  
its limits, spread-eagle, on the wall. The bonds  
that held him were made of an energy that didn't  
seem to weaken no matter how hard he tried. He  
couldn't tell how much time had past since he'd  
been here. Days and nights had no meaning in a  
room with no windows. Every so often a youkai  
would come into his small cell and place a clear  
crystal to his bare chest. Once in contact with  
his skin the crystal would glow bright white and  
start drawing his energy from him. The gem would  
start out clear and when it was finished it  
resembled a chunk of highly polished obsidian.   
The pain was bearable, but Hiei knew after the  
first few times that he couldn't survive this for  
too much longer. Each time they took his power he  
was slower to recover and increasingly weaker.   
  
Hiei heaved a heavy sigh. He promised  
himself that if he ever got out of this he was  
never going to be so stupid again. He closed his  
eyes and tried to sleep and regain his strength.   
Just as he was about to drift off voices came from  
the other side of his cell door. Hiei opened up  
his ears to listen.  
  
"You're sure about that?"  
  
"Of course I'm sure. Mukuro even brought  
Kurama, Yuusuke, and that loud mouth human in to  
look for him."  
  
"They're just wasting their time. This place  
is too well hidden. They'll never find him here.  
"  
  
"Yeah, your right. Well, it's time for  
another bleeding."  
  
Hiei heard the lock turn, and wondered what  
Kurama was doing now.  
  
===================  
  
Kurama twisted the bloody cloak in his hands  
trying by force of will to concentrate on the  
events of the here and now. He tried to force the  
feeling the something was wrong from his mind.   
With an instinct born of centuries of  
living in a dangerous world, Kurama ducked to the  
side as the first pin sailed past his throat and  
became entangled in his hair. Before he could  
identify the attacker he had to use Hiei's cloak  
to stop the second pin aimed for his chest.   
  
An animal like scream come from the direction  
of the attacks. Kurama now had a shape to replace  
the bodiless attacker. His attacker moved so fast  
that all he saw was the glint of the blade coming  
at his heart. Kurama put his left hand up to  
catch the arm before it delivered a killing blow.   
Once he had the attacker's wrist firmly in hand he  
realized the figure was much shorter than himself.  
To take attacker off balance Kurama yanked the  
wrist he held toward him. The maneuver worked, and  
the figure was so taken off guard that the hood to  
it's cape fell back. Kurama locked eyes with his  
attacker's and froze in shock.  
  
Glaring back at him was the most beautiful  
girl he had ever seen. Her hair was a bright gold  
that almost shined with it's own light. Her face,  
like the wrist he still held tightly in his hand,   
was delicate and fair. Her cheeks were flushed  
with deadly fury. But what stunned him the most  
were her eyes. They were the exact same shade of  
green as his own. Unlike his, however, they were  
tilled up slightly at the outside edges. This  
gave her a very exotic look and kept her from  
being just beautiful and made her stunning.  
  
From tightly clenched teeth she hissed her  
only warning, "BASTARD". Her knee connected with  
his stomach an instant before the metal sheath on  
her left forearm slammed into his jaw. Kurama saw  
stars and tasted blood. He knew that he was  
stumbling backwards but was unable to stop  
himself. Pain exploded from his wrist as she bit  
hard enough into his flesh to draw blood and tare  
tendons.   
  
His wrist had no choice but to relax its  
hold. Once the pressure was off her wrist she  
twisted her arm free and brought her left arm up  
to pushed hard in the middle of his chest. To  
help herself overbalance him she had placed her  
small foot behind his ankle, and pulled it forward  
as she pushed back. Kurama landed on his back  
with a loud thud. His beautiful attacker wasted  
no time in straddling his chest, pinning his arms  
to his sides with her legs. She landed a blow to  
Kurama's throat with her armored forearm, making  
it almost impossible for him to breath. The other  
hand brought her dagger to his throat, drawing a  
thin line of blood. She only stopped at the sound  
of Mukuro's voiced command.   
  
"Kamen, I forbid you to kill him in my home,  
in my very own inner chamber!" Mukuro yelled as  
she came toward them. Yuusuke was wisely holding  
Kuwabara back from interfering. Kurama silently  
thanked him for not letting Kuwabara turn a bad  
situation worse by rushing in.  
  
"If you didn't want him dead, why did you  
bring him here at the same time you summoned me?"  
Kamen's blade slipped deeper into Kurama's neck  
making the blood flow freely from his neck to pool  
in his hair beneath him. Kurama kept eye contact  
with his adversary, noticing her hastily lick his  
blood from her lips. She glared down at him with  
such hate it almost crackled between them. Kurama  
dared not breathe, one false move and she could  
slice his jugular down to his windpipe.  
  
"We need your help to find my servant, Hiei.   
They are his friends," Mukuro stated calmly  
despite the situation.  
  
The young girl straddling Kurama's chest  
nearly fell over in surprise. "You want me to work  
with this trash? Have you lost your *mind*?! You  
can ask me to lead your armies, you can ask me to  
take my life, but you really can't be asking me to  
work with this bastard?!" Kamen's surprise was so  
complete that she sat back on her heels and pulled  
her hands from Kurama's throat placing them on his  
chest. Her bloodied dagger dripped Kurama's blood  
onto his shirt front.  
  
"I most certainly can ask you to do just  
that."  
  
Kamen stood swiftly and started to walk  
toward the door, but not before she gave Kurama a  
kick to his jaw, reopening the wound in his mouth.  
"There is nothing you can say that will make me  
work with that piece of shit." she spat as she  
continued to the door.  
  
"I am demanding payment of services  
rendered," Mukuro said, almost quietly. It  
stopped Kamen dead in her step.  
  
"Are you saying that if I do this for you my  
debt to you will be paid in full?" asked just as  
quietly.  
  
"Yes."  
  
Kamen gave a long tired sigh, "It will take me time to  
prepare. I will be back in the morning." Then she left  
without a backward look. 


	3. three

Well, this is the chapter you all...some...well, a few of   
you have been waiting for. Answers to come!  
  
  
  
Broken Mask  
Chapter 3  
By Kat Aubuchon  
  
  
Souls are strange things. They are what give  
people their identity, their power, and their  
purpose. Some souls were created when time began.   
Coming again and again into a flesh existence,  
either because they have yet to learn the lessons  
one should learn in life, or because their  
connection to the physical world is so strong they  
stayed after their time had passed. Not all souls  
are old ones, some are new, and have not yet felt  
the pains and pleasures of being flesh.  
  
Any youkai can see a soul once it has left a  
body. Even some humans have the ability to sense,  
see, or make contact with a soul after it has  
abandoned the flesh. Sometimes a person is born  
with the right combination of heart, body and soul  
and can see a soul while it is still in the body.   
Kamen is one of those people. Since the age of  
three Kamen had been plagued by the images she  
saw. To her people had two faces. The one they  
wore on their body and the other created by their  
soul. Even souls that had gone from one body to  
the next had the same face in their soul. Long  
ago Kamen had learned to use her ability to track  
people.   
  
Every soul is unique and leaves a very  
distinct mark on the minds of others. That's why  
some people can control the minds of others. They  
learned how to use their soul to manipulate.   
Kamen turned that process around. Instead of  
using her soul on people they used their souls on  
her. Kamen's soul was like soft clay. Any soul  
she touched made a deep mark in her's forever. If  
the other soul was willing she could even take a  
piece of it and make it her own.   
  
Kamen's first teacher in the arts of thievery  
had told her that her abilities came from her  
father's side. He was a maki, a soul eater. The  
most hated of youkai, a soul eater would devour a  
soul and leave to flesh alive. Kamen's mother was  
a fox spirit. The day her parents met was the day  
they both died.  
  
Kamen's mother was a thief, and a very good  
one. She had heard that a maki in the mountains  
had a headdress of an ancient human empress that  
was supposed to be priceless. She was determined  
to have that headdress for herself, even though it  
was the property of a maki.  
  
Kamen's mother found the maki and the  
headdress. It was an easy job by any good thief's  
standards. She had the headdress and was about to  
leave when she spotted a locked chest on the  
corner. Her hands itched to open it, as any  
thief's would, so she opened it. It was the last  
mistake she ever made. The chest was booby  
trapped with paralyzing darts.  
  
When she had awaken it was to the worst  
horror a body can imagine. Kamen's father raped  
her mother for trying to steal his property; he  
devoured her soul because he wanted to. He lost  
his life because he was careless. He didn't see  
her mother's mate climb though the window with his  
dagger drawn.  
  
After he had killed the maki, her mother's  
mate carried the body back to their village and  
begged for help. There was nothing they could do.   
Once a maki eats a soul and then dies those souls  
are lost forever. One of the elders had seen in a  
vision that Kamen's mother was pregnant and  
requested the body be left with her.   
  
So it came to pass that Kamen was born and  
trained by the elder. When she was seven, and  
ready to leave the village on her own, the elder  
gave her three gifts. The headdress that her  
mother lost her soul for, the dagger that ended  
her father's life, and a fistful of pins that were  
dipped in the poison that caused her to be.  
  
Kamen cared little about the events of her  
making. Most people believed it was because she  
never knew her mother, but that wasn't true.   
Kamen knew her mother; it just that Kamen's mother  
was not the same women that had given her life.  
  
====================  
  
Kamen walked down the hall toward the guest  
rooms, the memories of Hiei seen though Yukina's  
innocent eyes still fresh in her thoughts. It was  
Yukina's memories of a time before she had drawn  
her first breath that were the most helpful to  
Kamen. Since Yukina and Hiei had shared the same  
womb their souls had touched and intertwined for a  
time. Those half remembered memories were what  
kept Yukina searching for her brother. Now Kamen  
carried those memories inside her, but they would  
not stay forever. In time all the memories she  
would take from them would fade and then disappear  
from her mind.  
  
Kamen was so preoccupied with sorting the  
memories with her special gift that she didn't see  
Mukuro until she was almost on top of her.  
  
"Was Yukina helpful?" Mukuro asked.  
  
"Yes, very. I have a good mental impression  
of Hiei's soul in its original state. That will  
give me a baseline from which to use the other  
memories. If you are ready, I can take your  
memories now." Kamen offered.  
  
"Dozo" Mukuro replied. She closed her eyes  
and waited. Kamen placed her hand on the flesh  
side of Mukuro's neck. The connection was  
immediate. The small piece of Mukuro's soul that  
was a part of Kamen responded by reaching into  
Mukuro's mind and finding the memories Kamen  
needed to complete her mission. Images of endless  
sparring matches, countless wounds, the fight Hiei  
lost to Mukuro at the tournament. Every moment  
Mukuro had spent in Hiei's presents was played  
back to her and then put in its place with  
Yukina's memories. Mukuro had to catch Kamen  
before she fell to the floor. Kamen tried to  
regain her sense of balance while Mukuro held her.  
  
"Are you all right?"   
  
"I'm fine. I just need to get my bearings  
straight." Kamen gently pulled herself from  
Mukuro's arms. "I can stand now."  
  
"Will you see the others now?" Mukuro asked.  
  
"If they're asleep I will. That will make it  
easier on all of us."  
  
"The last time I checked Yuusuke and the  
human were, but Kurama was still pacing around."  
Mukuro replied.  
  
Kamen turned and started down the hall again.   
"I'll go to Yuusuke first, then Kuwabara."   
  
"What about Kurama? He's closer to Hiei than  
anyone, I suspect." Mukuro asked quietly. Kamen  
stopped and clenched her hands into tight fists.  
  
"He will be the last one I see." she hissed.  
  
"Kamen..." Mukuro warned.  
  
"Don't worry. I remember my promise. I won't  
kill him." Kamen answered quickly. She almost  
jumped out of her skin when Mukuro placed her hand  
on Kamen's shoulder.  
  
"Kamen, we all do things we regret later. We  
all do what we have to do to survive. You should  
know that better than most." Kamen slapped  
Mukuro's hand from her shoulder.  
  
"You don't have to tell me what I've done!  
There is no excuse for what he did! He killed me;  
I'm just trying to return the favor."   
  
===================  
  
Kurama watched Kamen work on Kuwabara from  
the shadows of the room. Her eyes were closed and  
her expression was thoughtful. The only other  
time he had seen her face had been when she had  
been trying to carve him a new windpipe. Now he  
had a chance to look at her without wondering if  
he was going to breathe his last breath.   
  
He wracked his brain trying to remember her.   
He must have meet her somewhere. No one could be  
that hostile to someone they never met. He went  
through the centuries trying to place her face.   
The harder he tried the more confused he became.   
He was certain that he knew her, but he couldn't  
place where. The first hint of recognition had  
hit him when she had visited Yuusuke.  
  
After Kamen's scene with Mukuro Kurama  
followed her to Yuusuke's room. She had placed  
her hand on the back of his neck, just as she was  
doing to Kuwabara now, and started her work. At  
first she just sat there and waited. Then, slowly,  
there was a glowing between herself and Yuusuke.   
When the glowing stopped he was shocked to see a  
single tear fall from her eye. She took her hand  
from his neck and lovingly swept the hair from his  
eyes.   
  
"Raizen," she whispered softly, "Now I  
understand." In that moment, Kurama was positive  
he knew her.  
  
Now she sat with Kuwabara performing the same  
act. He continued to watch her, and then realized  
she was giggling. He strained his ears to listen.   
In his sleep Kuwabara was fighting Hiei, and  
winning. It was obvious that Kamen was having a  
hard time separating his dreams from his memories.   
After a few more minutes of the 'great Kuwabara  
defeating the evil shrimp' Kamen removed her hand  
from his neck and smiled.  
  
"Don't worry Kuwaba-chan you'll get him  
someday." she said comfortingly. As she tried to  
get up Kuwabara rolled over and pinned her under  
his massive arm.  
  
"Nechan, sing me a song." he asked. Kamen  
smiled brightly. Her entire face lit up chasing  
away the hardness that was there.  
  
"I don't know any songs, Kuwaba-chan," she  
cooed sweetly. Kuwabara's face frowned.  
  
"Yes, you do, nechan. Sing me the one Kasan  
taught you." He said innocently.  
  
A pained expression replaced the smile on her  
face. "Ok Kuwaba-chan. I'll sing you that one."   
She started off slowly and quietly, bearly above a  
whisper. Her voice was clear and true, never  
missing a note of the song Kurama knew by heart.   
His human mother had sung that song to him many  
times before when he was little, just as she was  
doing now.   
  
Kuwabara sighed in his sleep, content that he  
was being sung to. With a jaw-cracking yawn he  
rolled back over and fell deeper into sleep.  
Now that Kamen was no longer pinned she stood next  
to the bed and looked down at its sleeping guest.   
A sad smile formed on her lips.  
  
"Good night, Kuwaba-chan." she whispered.   
Kamen bent down and smoothed the rumpled hair on  
the top of Kuwabara's head and kissed the spot.  
  
Kurama was transported to a time when his  
mother did the same for him. He could hear his  
mother in his mind with Kamen's voice,"Good night,  
Shiuuichi." He came out of the shadows and  
walked, as if in a trance, toward her. When she  
turned he was right behind her.  
  
"Who are you?" he asked, knowing but not  
believing.  
  
Her eyes were instantly murderous, but  
quickly turn bitterly sad. "If you don't know it  
only makes it worse." Then she thrust her had  
into his hair to grab the back of his neck. Image  
of Hiei flooded his mind, making him dizzy, but  
among them all was the sound of a soul crying out  
in pain as it was forced from its body. Pushing  
it away from all it knew and all it loved, killing  
it. In the screams he could hear a mother's  
gentle voice promising to love forever the child  
she was given.  
  
"Masaka," was all Kurama said before he  
passed out.  
  
======================  
This is it the answer you've been waiting for. (If  
you still don't know who Kamen is see me after  
class.)   
  
Chapter four is going to take me longer to write  
because of school and work. If I'm very lucky it  
will be done by Tuesday.  
  
As always comments and replies welcome.  
  
Kat 


	4. four

As I promised here is chapter 4, on Tuesday.   
(Well, it's still Tuesday for the next hour.) Hope  
you like!  
  
Disclaimer: No one belongs to me except Kamen.   
Second disclaimer: No one proofed this for me so  
read at your own risk!  
  
  
Broken Mask  
Chapter 4  
by Kat Aubuchon  
  
"Ok, Kurama, let me get this strait," Yuusuke  
said as he paced the floor. He had found Kurama  
unconscious on Kuwabara's floor when he went to  
wake Kuwabara up. After Kurama had recovered he  
had told them a story weirder than his normal  
ones. With a sigh he stopped and faced Kurama.  
"Kamen's soul was the soul that was in Minami  
Shiuuichi before you showed up and bumped her out,  
ne?"  
  
Kurama winced at the cool way Yuusuke  
recounted events that, though Kamen's memories, he  
knew caused her great pain. "Yes, that's correct."  
he answered.  
  
"Shit. No wonder she's trying to kill you."  
Kuwabara said.  
  
Yuusuke elbowed Kuwabara sharply in the ribs  
and then turned to Kurama. "What are you going to  
do?" he asked.  
  
"I don't know." Kurama sighed. He walked  
over to the window. Kurama looked at himself  
in the glass of the window, and into the green  
eyes he shared with Kamen.   
Kurama's thoughts were interrupted by yelling in  
the hall.  
  
"...it isn't your decision. I have to repay  
my debt, and I *never* go back on a promise.   
Besides I've already started. I can't stop now  
even if I wanted to." Kurama turned from the  
window in time to see Kamen come barreling into  
the room. He was struck immediately by her change  
in appearance.  
  
Kamen's hair was unbound and fell strait to  
her knees, but the color was all wrong. Instead  
of a shining gold it was a dark gray with a golden  
shimmer. She was holding a bloody cloth to her  
right arm, that hung useless at her side. She  
wasn't wearing a cloak so he was able to see her  
clothes and was surprised to see that they were  
very similar to his own outfits. Loose pants with  
a long split tunic, but instead of the bright  
colors he favored her's was a deep purple that  
seemed almost black. At her hip was Hiei's sword.   
Kamen and Mukuro continued their argument.  
  
"Kamen, your exhausted. Your ready to pass  
put. Stop. Rest." Mukuro pleaded. Kamen turned to  
face Mukuro, swaying slightly on her feet.  
  
"*You* wanted me to find Hiei. This is the  
fastest way." Kamen replied coolly. "Besides Hiei  
doesn't have that much time."   
  
Yuusuke walked over to the pair and with his  
usual finesse requested information, "What the  
hell is going on?!"  
  
Kamen and Mukuro stopped their argument to  
look at him. "I am trying to find Hiei. The  
fastest way to do that is to connect directly to  
his soul. I just didn't expect him to be on the  
edge of death when I found him." Kamen said with a  
tired sigh.  
  
"You found Hiei and then left him?" Yuusuke  
demanded as he grabbed the front of Kamen's tunic.   
Kamen grabbed Yuusuke's wrist with her small left  
hand. Yuusuke yelped as searing heat made him  
release his hold.   
  
"Baka, I was projecting my soul. My body was  
still here." Kamen said. At Yuusuke's puzzled  
look she continued. "My soul is only loosely bound  
to this body. It's very easy for me to project my  
soul outside of my body and then move around. It  
heighten my abilities to not be bound to flesh."  
  
Kuwabara came and stood behind Kamen and  
placed a hand on her shoulder. "That still  
doesn't explain what's wrong with you." he said  
quietly. Kamen was surprised by his concern.  
  
"You mean this?" she asked as she tossed her  
hair from behind her to the fount with a flick of  
her head.  
  
"Yeah that, and your arm." Kuwabara said as  
he removed the bloody cloth Kamen was holding to  
her arm. Kamen grimaced as he examined the burned  
flesh. She had stopped bleed from the wound now,  
and the faint outline of a dragon could be seen.  
  
"Oh, that," she chuckled trying to hide her  
discomfort, "That will fade with the memories in  
time. Don't worry about it Kuwaba-chan, it's just  
a side effect of the..." Kamen never finished as a  
spray of blood burst from her forehead and she  
fell to her knees.  
  
"Kamen!" Kuwabara yelled as he knelt to help  
her. Both Kurama and Yuusuke came to her side.  
  
"Shit, I told her this would be too much for  
her." Mukuro said as she pulled the sash from  
around her waist. She knelt on the floor in front  
of Kamen and with a gentle hand on her chin lifted  
her head. Once raised a thin horizontal line  
could be seen on her forehead. Blood flowed  
slowly from the wound, running down the sides of  
her nose. She almost looked like she was crying  
blood.  
  
Mukuro placed the sash over the cut and tied  
it behind her head. She then took the two long  
ends of the sash and braided them into her long  
hair.  
  
"Thank you." Kamen whispered as she struggled  
to her feet.  
  
"Kamen, your hurt. You need to rest." Kurama  
suggested. Kamen's fury was immediate.  
  
"I don't or want you sympathy and pity!" she  
spat. She came and stood toe to toe with Kurama,  
the top of her now gray head bearly reached his  
chin. Green fire glowed in her eyes. "Where was  
your compassion when you stole my life from me?!"  
she screamed. Kurama dropped his eyes from her's.  
  
"Che, we have no time for this." Kamen said  
in a voice so cold and hard it hurt to hear.   
"Hiei is dying. If we don't get to him now there  
will be no second chance."  
  
=======================  
  
Hiei had just awakened from the weirdest  
dream. He was in a room being held for reasons  
unknown to him, and he was dying. It was a slow  
painful death he felt like he was freezing. All  
he wanted to do was to curl up in a tight ball and  
die. Then *she* had come to him. He almost smiled  
at the memory.....   
  
[Author's note: This is a flashback to what  
Hiei is remembering.]  
  
Hiei stopped his  
thoughts when a warm breeze blow across his skin.  
  
"Are you always this optimistic, or did I  
catch you on a good day?" A sweet voice asked.  
  
From somewhere inside him Hiei mustered up  
enough strength to open his eyes. In front of him  
stood the most stunning women he had ever seen.   
Hair that fell in golden waves to her knees was  
the first thing he noticed.  
  
" Are you an angel?" he asked.  
  
She chuckled, "I am as far from being an  
angel as you are Hiei."  
  
"How do you know my name?" he demanded.  
  
"First you think I'm an angel without any  
proof and then you yell at me for knowing your  
name," she smiled at him. he  
thought.  
  
"Please don't compare me with that lying  
bastard." she hissed.  
  
Hiei's eyes narrowed, "What did you say?" he  
asked.  
  
"I said to not compare me to that piece of  
trash." she countered.  
  
Hiei began to feel anger move his blood,  
"Kurama happens to be..."  
  
"...the biggest bastard that ever walked the  
earth." she finished.  
  
"Listen you little bitch..."  
  
"*Little*? Your a fine one to call someone  
little." she yelled.  
  
Hiei tried to yell but the effort was too  
much. He started to cough as chills hit his body.   
  
"Are you all right?" she asked in alarm.  
  
"Do I look all right, baka?" he said in a  
rasp. He watched her walk over to him, but  
couldn't do or say anything to stop her. She  
placed a soft hand on his cheek. The touch was so  
light it was like a breath on his face. It was so  
warm it was almost hot. He longed to be able to  
pull the warmth closer.  
  
"Gods, your freezing! What the hell did they  
do to you?" she asked stepping closer. Hiei  
tried to bury his cheek into the warmth of her  
hand, not caring that she had spoken. All he  
wanted was to feel warm again. "Hiei, answer me!"  
she demanded.  
  
"They were draining my power off with some  
sort of crystal. They said that no one would find  
me. How did you find me?" he asked.  
  
She sighed, "It's a long story." She held a  
long pause and then spoke, "Hiei do you want to  
live?" she asked.   
  
Hiei was confused by the question, "What do  
you mean 'Do I want to live' , that's a stupid?"  
he answered.  
  
"Hiei, it is very important that you answer  
me. Do you want to live?" she asked again.   
  
Hiei looked into her eyes. He knew that  
there was some great significance to her plea, but  
he didn't know what. So, he just answered as  
truthfully as he could. "Yes, I want to live."  
  
She nodded her head once and then place her  
other hand to his cheek. He welcomed the warmth  
of both her hands willingly, his eyes started to  
close with the pleasure of being a little warm  
again. Then he felt her lips against his. His  
eyes flew open and he looked at her, but her eyes  
were closed. She opened her mouth slightly and he  
was compelled to do the same. It wasn't kiss like  
he imagined it would be, but more like an exchange  
of breath. He breathed in deeply once and his  
whole body became warm. It wasn't the kind of  
heat he could generate, but a gentle warmth that  
seeped into his bones and into his hair chasing  
away the cold of death.  
  
He heard her small grunt of pain and became  
alarmed. She held on firmly with her left hand but  
the right fell away. Hiei could now see scenes of  
his life dance in her mind. A lifetime of hurts  
and memories were relived my her as she shared her  
warmth with him. He watched as her hair turned  
from gold to gray and lines of pain crease her  
face. He pulled his head free of her hand and her  
lips, understanding want she was doing for him.  
  
She stood back from him holding her bleeding  
arm. She tried to smile for, but the pain made it  
a grimace. "Now don't you go and die on me. I'm  
not going to go though all of this just to have  
you kick the bucket as soon as I leave," her image  
began to shimmer and fade, "I need to go find the  
others and tell them where your at. Promise me  
your not going to be dead when I get back."   
  
Hiei just stared at her dumbfounded, "Promise  
me!" she yelled as she completely faded from  
sight.  
  
"I promise." he said to an empty room.  
  
[Authors note: Now ending flashback.]  
  
Hiei snapped his head up with the sudden  
realization that it wasn't a dream. She was real  
and she had saved his life for the time being. It  
was now up to him to keep the promise he made.   
==================  
  
I have no idea when I'll be able to get the next  
chapter out to you guys, so please be patient.  
  
Kat 


	5. five

Broken Mask Chapter 5 pt I  
  
  
Suddenly Kamen stopped and looked around as  
if lost. She turn a full circle, searching the  
ground and the trees with slight frown on her  
face. "Kuwaba-chan, I need your help," she said  
without looking at them. Kuwabara looked at  
Kurama and then at Yuusuke. Yuusuke shrugged, he  
didn't know what Kamen wanted anymore than  
Kuwabara did. Kuwabara walked to Kamen and stood  
beside her. She turned to him and smiled, Yuusuke  
was stuck by how beautiful it made her. She  
pointed out into the forest, "Kuwaba-chan, what  
do you see when you look out there?" she asked.   
  
Kuwabara gave her a puzzled frown, then  
looked where she asked. "Trees, "he answered.   
Yuusuke yelled at him in his  
mind. Yuusuke heard Kamen chuckle and Kurama  
laugh. I wonder if they know how impressive a  
couple they make. Yuusuke thought as he saw them  
in his line of sight at the same time. It was the  
first time they had been close enough for a  
comparison. Where Kurama was beautiful and could  
pass as a girl, there was no mistaking Kamen for  
being anything but female, even with her rather  
weird change of appearance. Kamen lightly punched  
Kuwabara on his shoulder with her fist.  
  
  
  
Broken Mask chapter 5 Pt II  
  
  
Yuusuke didn't understand why Kamen and  
Kuwabara had hit it off so well. Most youkai  
became annoyed at Kuwabara and then never paid him  
any attention, but Kamen and her Kuwaba-chan had  
been almost inseparable. During the preparation  
for the trip the two of them had sat in the corner  
together, talking quietly and laughing at each  
other's jokes. To Kuwabara she was friendly and  
affectionate, to him she was respectful and almost  
humble, but for Kurama she was always on the edge  
violence. She barely kept her words civil, though  
everything she said to him dripped with her deep  
hatred. Yuusuke kept a very close eye on her.  
  
"No, baka, beyond the trees," she said behind  
her smile. Kamen placed her hand on top of  
Kuwabara's. Her voice took on a soft hypnotic  
quality, "What do you see beyond the trees?" she  
asked. Her eyes drifted shut, and in the middle  
of the sash that covered her forehead Yuusuke  
could see a faint blue glow. Kuwabara's eyes  
glazed and he seem to go limp. Yuusuke became  
alarmed, . He  
was about to stop the whole thing when Kuwabara  
answered.  
  
"I see a path," he raised his arm and pointed  
in the general direction of his right ," there."  
Kamen let go of his hand and walked to were he  
indicated. Once released Kuwabara shook his head  
and blinked as if he had just woken up. Yuusuke  
wanted to know what she had just done to Kuwabara,  
so he followed her. Kamen was now looking in the  
ferns and undergrowth, pulling them aside so that  
she could see underneath.  
  
"Kuso," Kamen cursed under her breath.   
Yuusuke knelt down to see what she was looking at.   
  
"Ward," she said with out his asking. She  
tore one from its hiding place at the base of a  
tree and gave it to him. "The whole damn forest  
is probably covered with them."  
  
"Someone knew you were coming," Kurama said  
as he too tore a ward from its place. Yuusuke  
could hear Kamen give a low growl and clenched her  
fists at the sound of Kurama's voice. Yuusuke  
could see that she was loosing her composure. He  
looked over to Kurama, and saw that he was  
carefully masking his emotions. Yuusuke was  
startled when Kamen spoke.  
  
"He's right. Someone knew that I would be the one to  
track Hiei, and put the wards here to stop me. There too  
specific and specialized to have been left to stop anyone  
but me. These wards are designed to cover a soul's imprint,  
the exact thing I use to track." Kamen said as she slowly  
stood. Yuusuke noticed that she kept her back to Kurama.   
He had been surprised that Kamen agreed with Kurama's  
observation, so were Kurama and Kuwabara by the looks on  
their faces. Something still confused Yuusuke about the  
whole thing.  
  
  
Broken Mask chapter 5 Pt III  
  
"How did you know to look for the wards?" he  
asked.  
  
She looked at him and gave him a lopsided  
smile, "You always get right to the point, don't  
you?" she shook her head, "Just like Raizen."   
Yuusuke was taken off guard when she mentioned his  
ancient ancestor's name. he  
wondered.  
  
"I knew to look for something because my  
powers are blocked. With me being connected to  
Hiei I should be able to easily sense him, and I  
can't, " she said.  
  
"What did that have to do with me?" Kuwabara  
asked.   
  
"When I was with Hiei I saw his memories of  
how he was captured. He used a great deal of  
energy, that was then absorbed by the person that  
took him. You, with your slight soul sensing  
ability, and a little of my help, was able to see  
where I couldn't. I used Hiei's Jagan to see what  
you could, Kuwaba-chan," she explained.  
  
"Why did the wards stop you and not me?"  
Kuwabara asked.  
  
"She's youkai and your human, idiot," Yuusuke  
answered for her. "So now your going to use  
Kuwabara to find Hiei?" he asked.  
  
Kamen gave a heavy sigh and rubbed the back  
of her neck tiredly, "No, the wards make it too  
difficult, and after too long the process would  
harm Kuwaba-chan." she said. Yuusuke had not  
noticed how distressed Kurama had become at  
Kamen's words.  
  
"We can't give up now," Kurama walked over to  
Kamen and pulled her arm to face him, "You have to  
do something." he said. Kamen had her dagger  
drawn and positioned it to plunge into Kurama's  
chest.  
  
"Get his filthy hands off of me!" she hissed.   
Yuusuke could see that the situation was getting  
out of hand. He pulled Kurama's hand from Kamen,  
and pushed her back from Kurama. He was surprised  
when she sheathed her dagger and looked up at him  
and gave him a nod of affirmation.  
  
  
Broken Mask chapter 5 Pt IV- (the last part)  
  
"Can you do anything, Kamen?" Yuusuke asked.   
Kamen bowed her head.  
  
"Yes, there is still one more thing I can  
do," she said. "I can let Hiei show us the way."  
she finished quietly. Yuusuke felt a shift in  
Kamen. She reached for the long tail of her braid  
and then unbraided the sash from it. Once she let  
the material fall to the ground. The cut that was  
on her forehead before was now the closed eye of a  
Jagan. She closed her natural eyes as the Jagan  
opened. Her hair went from dark gray to a black  
so dark it had blue highlights. The feathery  
hairs on her forehead that surrounded the Jagan  
turned a bright white.   
  
Kuwabara pushed Yuusuke out of his way and  
took both of Kamen's shoulders in his hands,  
"Kamen stop it!" he yelled at her as he shook her.  
  
"What do you think your doing you idiot?!"  
she murmured. Yuusuke watched as her eyes slid  
back open. They were no longer a bright green,  
but a warm red. She took Kuwabara's hands a  
shoved them off her shoulders, and glared in a way  
that was unique to one person.  
  
"Hiei?" Kurama asked in astonishment. She  
turned to him and smiled slightly.  
  
"Were you expecting someone else?"   
  
===========================  
  
Sorry this one is so short, but the part I've  
written got to big to put with the next part.   
  
By the way I need help with the next part. As you  
can see Hiei now has control of Kamen's body, what  
do I do with the pronouns? Do I make them "she"  
because of the body, or "he" because of Hiei? I'm  
thinking that "he" is better, but I'd like your  
comments on this. (And the rest of it too!)  
  
Now I'm back to rebuilding my YYH notebook.   
  
::sigh:: this is going to take forever!  
  
Kat 


	6. six

I really don't know if I should have posted this,  
but if I don't get it out I can't start Chapter 7.   
  
Disclaimer: None of them are mine, except Kamen  
and the guy at the end.  
Second Disclaimer: I proofed this by myself and in  
my sleep, so if it makes no sense you know why.  
  
Broken Mask  
Chapter 7  
by Kat Aubuchon  
  
Hiei had been floating on dreams and mist  
since he had last seen the female he now knew was  
named Kamen. There was no pain, no up, no down,  
nothing but snatches of her memories. Scenes  
taken out of context that had no meaning for him.   
Feelings that made no sense clashing, colliding,  
mixing, changing. He could feel Kuwabara's  
presence and the warmth she associated with it.   
He knew that Yuusuke was there with Kamen, strong  
feelings of loyalty and kinship came to his mind.   
Then there was Kurama: fear, regret, pain, longing  
and deep hatred. Blinding in it's intensity,  
unnatural in it's magnitude.   
  
"Why does she hate him so much?" he asked,  
not expecting an answer. He was surprised when he  
got one. Images of when Kamen's soul was new  
flooded his eyes. The warmth, security, and love  
of a mother, things he himself had never felt, the  
pain of separation, the sorrow of loss, and hate  
of a soul that was so new it had never taken it's  
first breath. He could hear laughter, Kurama's  
laughter, cruel and cutting. The same laughter he  
gave to his enemies when he was youko.  
  
"This can't be right? She can't possibly  
remember something that happened before she was  
born, not with this kind of clarity," he said into  
the mists. He had no time to ponder it farther as  
he felt himself being pulled.  
  
"What the..."   
  
"You really didn't think I was going to let  
you sit on your butt the whole time, did you?"  
  
"Kamen?" he asked.  
  
"You got it! Don't be so surprised. Who's  
life force did you think you were floating in  
anyway?" she asked with sarcasm. "Get your ass  
moving, I don't have all day."   
  
Out of the mist he saw her come to him. Her  
hair was still dark gray and on her right arm was  
a replica of the dragon on his own arm. She  
placed her right hand in the middle of his chest.   
He could feel things changing, he could now hear  
birds in a forest, the rustle of leaves. He could  
smell the fresh air and the green earth. Kamen's  
hair was changing from dark gray to her natural  
gold, but the scar the dragon made remained.   
  
"Hiei, you need to hurry. You have control  
now, but I can't keep this up forever and still be  
able to separate us afterward." she said to him as  
she pushed him away.  
  
"You mean we could get stuck like this!" he  
demanded.  
  
"Yes, so hurry! Unless you like having  
breasts for the rest of your life!" she yelled to  
as he fell into consciousness. "Tell Kuwaba-chan  
I'm all right. And Hiei, my body better be in the  
same condition I left it in when I get back or I'm  
going to kick your ass."   
  
  
Kamen's last words were almost lost to  
Kuwabara's booming voice.  
  
"Kamen, stop it!" he yelled. Hiei was sure  
that if he opened his eyes right now the  
disorientation would make him fall over, plus  
Kuwabara was shaking him hard enough to rattle his  
teeth. When Hiei's balance returned so did his  
sharp tongue with Kuwabara.  
  
"What do you think your doing you idiot?" he  
murmured. Hiei was shocked to hear Kamen's voice  
speak his words, though he shouldn't have been.   
He could remember what had happened and what she  
had said. He slowly opened his eyes the first  
thing he saw was Kuwabara's ugly mug was three  
inches from his face. Hiei took the humans hands  
and shoved them off his shoulders. He heard  
Kurama call his name, and turned to him, and  
smirked.  
  
"Were you expecting someone else?" he asked  
with just a little bit of devilment. Hiei watched  
as the three of them blinked like owls. Inside he  
laughed at them and their astonishment. On the  
outside, however, he was cool and calm as ever.   
  
The first real change Hiei saw was that he  
was taller by about four inches. After taking a  
few experimental steps he realized that the extra  
height was from Kamen's longer legs. Other than  
that they were basically the same body build. At  
least he thought that before he tried to cross his  
arms over his chest. No matter how hard he tried  
he couldn't rest his arms comfortably. he  
thought as the reason for his problem became  
apparent.   
  
Once, by some stoke of luck Hiei had managed  
to land a sword blow on Mukuro, but the only  
damage had been to her shirt. The material had  
hung open and Hiei could see a white cloth wrapped  
tightly around her chest, from collarbone to mid  
ribcage.  
  
"Did you break a rib?" he had asked. Mukuro  
had looked down at herself and started to laugh.  
  
"That's there to stop them from moving." she  
had answered.  
  
"What from moving?" he had asked in his  
ignorance.  
  
"Hiei, your are entirely too innocent  
sometimes." she had said and then she had shown  
him exactly what.   
  
"Having problems, Hiei?" Yuusuke asked. Hiei  
could tell that Yuusuke was trying, with little  
success, to hide his smile. Similarly Kurama was  
trying to conceal his laughter by looking at the  
ground, hiding behind his hair. Kuwabara didn't  
notice Hiei's discomfort, which was find with  
Hiei.  
  
Hiei noticed a few things about his new body.   
While Kamen was probably more flexible and agile  
then himself, she was no where near as fast. As  
far as strength was concerned they were even. The  
worse thing about this body was all the hair.   
Hiei was totally at a loss as to what to do with  
it. Luckily for him Kurama noticed.  
  
"Here, let me help you with that Hiei,"  
Kurama said as he reached for the slightly tangled  
mass. Hiei's body's reaction was instant, it  
recoiled. Hiei was startled by the gut reaction  
Kamen's body had to Kurama. A conditioned reflex  
so strong it was almost like breathing. Kurama  
either didn't notice or wouldn't comment , he just  
took the hair in his hands and started to runs his  
fingers though to remove the tangles. Hiei thought with a purr, then  
mentally shook his head,   
  
"Hiei? Did you hear me? I'm done."   
  
Kurama's voice broke his daydream. Hiei  
reached his hand behind his head and felt the  
intricate braid that Kurama had woven with the  
hair and the slender vines that held the whole  
thing together. Hiei was confused, he looked up into Kurama's  
eyes, Hiei  
averted his eyes.  
  
"We have to get going. The caverns are still  
a long way off, and I don't know how much time we  
have."  
  
=====================  
  
He watched them carefully from his conceal  
position. The human, Reizen's heir, Kurama and  
Hiei using Kamen's body moved quietly and  
stealthily though his underground fort. He was  
pleased at Kamen's progress. he  
thought.  
  
He moved though the halls unnoticed by all,  
his illusions firmly in place. He entered Hiei's  
cell, and waited. He knew her like no other, he  
knew that she would make Hiei come here first. He  
could hear the sounds of a battle above him, he  
didn't care. He had many such forts, all well  
hidden and impossible to find. The loss of this  
one was a small sacrifice for the rewards that  
awaited him.   
  
He could feel her coming, and he pulled his  
illusions tighter around himself. He watched  
Hiei, in his little mask's body, and the human  
charge into the cell. After the human cut the  
bonds with his rei sword, and Hiei caught his body  
as it fell, Kamen reassured herself as the  
dominate presence in her body.  
  
"Kuwaba-chan, guard the hall while I wake  
sleeping beauty here," she said. The human nodded  
once and left for the hallway. He watched as  
Kamen started to return Hiei to his body  
completely. He could tell that it was taking all  
her concentration to complete the transfer. He  
wanted to stop her, he thought as he placed a hand  
on Kamen's neck and traced the contours of jaw and  
ear. He wouldn't stop her though, it would raise  
too many questions.  
  
With his mind he pulled the treads in Kamen's  
subconscious loose. The lattice  
that held all of his carefully laid illusions in  
check was now gone. Now there was no way Kamen  
could stop the images from coming. No way for her  
to resist his illusions.   
  
==================  
  
Tell me if my names are wrong. My lovable cats  
dumped my YYH notebook in my tea the other day,  
and it had all my names and spellings and such.   
I've been trying to get them back, but I don't  
remember where I got them from in the first place.   
If anyone wants to help me put it back together  
the gesture will be greatly appreciated.  
  
Kat 


	7. seven

To try and cut down on the confusion I'm going to  
explain a few things in this chapter. I am  
assuming that all fox spirits have two forms, the  
human/foxish form (i.e. fox's ears and tail), and  
a purely fox form (i.e. four legs, fur, many  
tails). I'm calling the fox spirit (as a whole  
species) youko, and the purely fox form the  
kitsune form of a youko.  
  
Disclaimer: None of these people are of my  
creation except Kamen, the mystery guy, and Yuurei  
(AKA Koishii)  
  
Broken Mask  
Chapter 7 part I  
by Kat Aubuchon  
  
  
Kamen sat in the mist that was her  
subconscious. For Kamen it was disconcerting to  
see how many questions left unanswered were buried  
here. Why did she leave Reizen? Why didn't she  
follow the ways of a thief as she had been  
taught? Why didn't she give into the soul eater  
part of herself? Why did she give a damn if Hiei  
lived or died? Why hadn't she killed Kurama when  
she had the chance all those years ago? ... She  
stopped her thoughts at that. She didn't want to  
know the answer to that one, so she focused on  
another question.   
  
Why was it important to her Hiei lived? Why  
had she gone to such lengths to save him? She  
tried to explain it away by saying she was only  
fulfilling her promise to Mukuro, but she knew  
that wasn't true. Mukuro had no idea that she  
could do what she did, and would never have blamed  
her for Hiei's death anyway.   
  
As she floated there the memories of the only  
other time she had touched another person as she  
had touched Hiei came to mind. She remembered the  
time she first met Yuurei.  
  
[flashback]  
  
It had been a unseasonably warm winter that  
year when she was three, and like the curious kit  
she was Kamen had gone out to explore. While  
moving though the trees of the woods near the  
village she got her first real meeting with  
Yuurei, but that wasn't the first time Kamen had  
seen the youko. In fact this youko had been  
around her since she was born. The others in the  
village said that he had always been around,  
watching her, always in his kitsune form. The  
villagers were the ones that had given him the  
name Yuurei, because he was like Kamen's shadow  
ghost, always just a few yards away.   
  
The meeting came when a youkai attacked her  
as she explored. Yuurei had jumped in to save her  
and received a gash in his side that showed his  
ribs to the bone. He had killed the youkai, but  
now he was laying in a pool of his own blood  
fighting for air. Being three years old she had no  
fear of the kitsune, but had been told repeatedly  
by her elder never to go near him. Without  
hesitation she walked over to him and placed her  
hands on him. When she touched his head she felt  
Yuurei's pain. For some reason she knew that she  
couldn't let him die. Kamen for the first time  
opened her soul and mind to another. She took his  
pain into herself, and gave him her strength.   
  
The elder had been the one to find her  
unconscious with the kitsune in her lap. It took  
weeks for the both of them to recover, and in that  
time Kamen earned Yuurei's trust and friendship  
and learned that he couldn't change from his  
kitsune form though he never told her why. Kamen  
gave Yuurei a new name, Koishii. He hated it,  
refusing to be anyone's beloved anything. In the  
years that followed Kamen and Yuurei had become  
like one, and he truly became her koishii. There  
was never a time when one was not with other,  
until she was eleven.   
  
She had been on another spying run for  
Mukuro. Kamen had come to work for Mukuro soon  
after she left her village at the age of seven.  
Kamen was Mukuro's best spy despite her young age.   
As always Yuurei came with her to spy on Yomi.   
They had spied on the blind leader before and had  
never had any trouble, but this time it was like  
someone had told him they were coming. Kamen was  
captured easily, and Yuurei was killed. Kamen  
lived a year of absolute hell as Yomi's property.  
  
[end of Kamen's flashback]  
  
Kamen shook the cold feeling from her. She  
didn't wish to remember that time, but there was  
no way she could forget. The scars Yomi left were  
there to remind her.   
  
Why did Hiei make her think of Yuurei? Kamen  
had no time to think on it. She could feel Hiei  
getting closer to his body, and then come into  
contact with it. Kamen knew that now was the time  
to take control. With the force of her will she  
pulled Hiei back into her subconscious.  
  
"What's happening out there?" she asked as  
she started the process of replacing Hiei's  
control with her own.  
  
"Yuusuke and Kurama are running interference  
above and the idiot is with me," he replied.  
  
"Don't talk about Kuwaba-chan like that. If  
it wasn't for him I wouldn't have been able to  
find you fast enough," she said.  
  
"Hn, I'm sure it wasn't by choice," he  
grunted. Hiei crossed his arms over his chest and  
glared at nothing in particular.  
  
"Fine, be that way," she said as she regained  
complete control.  
  
"Kuwaba-chan, guard the hall while I wake  
sleeping beauty here," she said to Kuwabara,  
knowing Hiei would take offense to the reference.   
When he left she was able to get a good look at  
Hiei's true body. His skin was cool to the touch  
and so pale it almost looked blue. Under his eyes  
was smudged a darker blue.  
  
Kamen knew what she need to do to save Hiei's  
life, and never gave it a second thought. She  
placed her hands on his chest and allowed him to  
fully return to his body. She also allowed him to  
take as much of her power as he needed to live.  
The strain to her system was sever, but tolerable.   
For as instant Kamen thought she felt a familiar  
presence, but ignored it. She needed to  
concentrate on helping Hiei. When she opened her  
eyes she was staring into Hiei's glaring red  
ones.  
  
"Baka, you shouldn't have done that," he  
snapped.  
  
"Well, your welcome," she snapped back. "Did  
sleeping beauty wake up on the wrong side of his  
cell?" she asked.  
  
"Don't call me that! Damn, your annoying."  
  
"I only live to please you," she said with  
her best come hither smile.  
  
"You are the craziest bitch I've ever met,"  
he said. He was giving her a look that was surly  
meant to intimidate her, but only made her  
chuckle.  
  
"Your fun to fight with," she said as she  
helped him to his feet. She could tell he didn't  
want to take her hand, but decided that getting  
help was preferable to falling on his ass.  
  
"Give me back my sword and I'll show you a  
fight," he said in a almost bored voice. Kamen  
unbelted his sword and held it out to him. When  
he reached for it she pulled it back out of his  
reach.  
  
"Don't you have a sword of your own?" she  
asked as she let her eyes slide down his body and  
stop at a place that made her double edged meaning  
clear.  
  
Hiei grabbed his sword from her and stalked  
out, cursing with a colorful variety of  
obscenities. Kamen swore she saw some color  
return to his cheeks. she concluded. Kamen quickly followed  
Hiei out the door and met up with him and  
Kuwabara. They were trading mutual insults and  
generally letting the other know they hated the  
other's guts.  
  
=================  
  
Kuwabara watched the hall nervously. He kept  
throwing glances at the cell door, hoping Kamen  
would hurry. From above he could hear the sounds  
of a fight and behind him he could hear the low  
voices of Hiei and Kamen. he thought as his anxiety lessened.   
Suddenly Hiei came stomping out of the cell  
cursing in a way he normally reserved for their  
arguments.  
  
"What's wrong with you?" he asked. Kuwabara  
noticed that Hiei's cheeks where reddish.   
  
"None of your damn business, idiot," Hiei  
hissed. Kuwabara quickly went from slightly  
worried to pissed.  
  
"You know, we should have left you in there  
to rot."  
  
"That would have been better than having to  
be with you."  
  
"What about poor Kamen? She was stuck with  
*you* inside her head. I'm surprised she could  
stand it."  
  
"I'm surprised she didn't pass out when she  
smelled you coming."  
  
Kuwabara was stumbling for another insult  
when he felt a hand on his arm. "Let the poor  
dear rest Kuwaba-chan. He is weak after all."  
Kamen said in a sickly sweat mothering tone.   
Kuwabara looked at Kamen and made sure she was all  
right. Her hair color had returned to it's normal  
gold, but she looked pale and tired. Her pale  
hair and dark green eyes only made the dark  
circles under her eyes stand out more.  
  
"Look like shit, ne?" she asked. She ran a  
hand over her face and hair. She gave a puzzled  
frown when she felt the bindings in her hair, but  
then shrugged it off as not important. Kuwabara thought as he tried to look like  
he wasn't looking.  
  
"If you ladies are done fixing your hair, I  
think it's time to go." Hiei said. He turned  
quickly and walked down the hall, toward the  
stairs. Kuwabara could feel his face redden in  
anger, but again he felt Kamen's hand on his arm.   
She gave a small negative shake of her head and a  
friendly smile in Hiei's direction. realized with great  
amazement.  
  
Kuwabara and Kamen followed Hiei to the  
battle that was already underway. Everywhere they  
looked there were dead and dying youkai, and  
smoking piles of rubble. After a few minutes of  
searching they found Yuusuke and Kurama fighting  
back to back, Yuusuke with his fists and Kurama  
with his rose whip. It was easy to tell that the  
youkai were giving them only a little trouble.   
  
Kuwabara felt Kamen freeze beside him. She  
was staring at Kurama with horror in her eyes, and  
if possible she had gone whiter than before. She  
looked like she was terrified of Kurama, but  
quickly covered it with a mask of indifference.  
  
"Oi, 'bout time you guys showed up," Yuusuke  
said when he noticed them watching. "Now we can  
finish this and get out of here." Yuusuke raised  
his arm and gathered his energy. Like a shot  
Kamen ran to him and tackled him just as he fired.   
The blast ripped though the ceiling sending huge  
chucks of rock down on them.   
  
Yuusuke rolled to the side, with Kamen in his  
arms, to avoid the falling debris. Kurama had to  
jump to the side and then jump into the new hole  
in the ceiling to avoid the crush of hostel  
youkai. Yuusuke and Kamen had just enough to find  
cover as the same youkai that tried to attack  
Kurama turned to them as their new pray.   
  
"What the fuck was that for?" Yuusuke  
demanded. Kuwabara and Hiei came to crouch with  
them behind a fallen wall, as the few A-class  
youkai that were in the attacking group hurled  
their attacks.  
  
"I'm sorry, Yuusuke-san, but I couldn't let  
you fire in that direction," Kamen said. She  
ducked low behind the wall as another well placed  
hit rocked it.  
  
Yuusuke ignored her formalness and got to the  
point. "Why? What's over there?"  
  
"Do you see the shelf on the wall over there  
with the black crystals? Those crystals are the  
same ones that they used to drain Hiei's power,  
and by the look of them they still contain his  
power. If you just brake them you'll probably  
release all that power on all of us. You'd  
survive, but the rest of us might not." she  
explained. Kuwabara gave a quick glance over to  
the wall and the multitude of crystals that lined  
the shelf,   
  
"So what are we going to do? We can't blast  
our way out, and only me, Kuwabara and Kurama have  
the strength to get out of here by ourselves."  
Yuusuke said as he fired back at a much lower  
level than he liked.   
  
"I think I have a way. Remember the attacks  
Mukuro investigated?" she asked over the noise of  
the crumbling stone.  
  
"The ones with Hiei's power signature all  
over them?" Kuwabara asked. He saw Yuusuke's eyes  
light up as he made a connection he himself had  
yet to make.  
  
"You think they were using the crystals."  
Yuusuke said with excitement.  
  
"Right, but I think that there is something  
more. In each of the attacks there were no  
witnesses because the resulting blast destroyed  
everything. I think that whatever youkai used the  
crystal was also destroyed in the blast."   
  
"Who would be stupid enough to kill  
themselves over something so silly?" Hiei asked as  
another series of blasts cracked to wall.  
  
"That doesn't matter now, what matters is  
that at each of the sights the blast always went  
in the same direction. I think that when the  
power was released it was totally uncontrolled,  
and like a lost child, it tried to return to the  
one thing that was like itself." Kamen explained.  
  
"Hiei. You think it was trying to get back  
to Hiei. And if we break the crystals now the  
power inside will try and get back to Hiei."  
Yuusuke said as he returned another volley of  
shots to keep the youkai mob back.  
  
"So your saying were stuck here because the  
shrimp is with us," Kuwabara replied. I knew  
this blockhead was more trouble than he's worth  
Kuwabara was taken back at Kamen's cold tone when  
she responded.  
  
"No... What I'm saying, Kuwabara, is that  
were going to have to be creative." She looked at  
each of them in turn. "Kuwabara I'm going to need  
you to carry me out of here when were done, what  
I'm going to do will probably knock me cold.   
Yuusuke, at my word I need you to fire on the  
crystals."  
  
"And what am I suppose to do?" Hiei asked.   
Kuwabara saw that he was glaring in such a way  
that made it clear he didn't like Kamen's plan  
already. Kamen gave Hiei a forced  
smile.  
  
"Forgive me," the words were barely uttered  
as she landed a right hook to Hiei's jaw. He went  
down like and paper doll. Yuusuke grabbed Kamen's  
wrist.  
  
"Are you crazy?" he screamed at her. Kamen  
wrenched her arm away and looked evenly into  
Yuusuke's pissed face.  
  
"The only way this is going to work is if  
that energy you release thinks I'm Hiei. If he's  
awake there's no way it will work."  
  
"How come you think you can survive any  
better than any of us? After all it only took one  
crystal to do all that damage before, and now  
there has to be a couple dozen over there."  
Yuusuke said, obviously not liking this plan any  
better than the unconscious Hiei and Kuwabara.  
Kamen gave a sly smile that was purely the youko  
side of her heritage.  
  
"I still have a few tricks up my sleeve.   
Just fire when I tell you and carry Hiei out of  
here." she said as she readied herself to jump  
over the wall.  
  
"What about Kurama?" Yuusuke asked.   
  
Kamen barely gave it a thought. "He can take  
care of himself. You just do what your suppose  
to."   
  
Kamen leaped over the wall and with a grace  
and speed Kuwabara had only seen in Kurama's youko  
form, he watched as Kamen ducked and dodged  
attacks. She only went on the offensive when  
there was no way to get around an opponent, and  
when she attacked it was swift and deadly.   
  
She stopped when she reached the far wall.   
Kamen turned to them and yelled for Yuusuke to  
break the crystals. A aura of black flames  
flickered around her, and Hiei's body jerked in  
response. Yuusuke wasted no time in aiming and  
just fired a blast large enough to take the whole  
wall out. From the rubble there was a screaming  
roar of power that touched at S-class. Within  
seconds the rubble left by Yuusuke's attack turn  
to dust and then disintegrated as the familiar  
black dragon curled and twisted it's way toward  
Kamen.  
  
She stood perfectly still as the dragon  
approached. Only when it was within few yards did  
she drop Hiei's aura and take up a new one. It  
flashed a brilliant red and cracked and spit it's  
power outward. It was immediately recognizable to  
Yuusuke. "Mukuro" he whispered in amazement as a  
barely A-class youkai welded the power of a  
S-class with a thought.  
  
Kuwabara had seen the tapes of the Makai  
tournament and knew that the stance Kamen took  
with her arms crossed in front of her and her   
body leaning into the attack was the same one  
Mukuro took when she had fought Hiei. The dragon  
howled it's rage and crashed into the shield she  
erected. It was able to push her to the wall and  
make her back heel dig into the stone. Kuwabara  
watched dumbfounded as she decreased the shield so  
that it only covered her body. The reason for her  
change was easy to see. The wall behind her  
started to turn to dust by the power of the  
dragon. Soon there was a hole in the wall all the  
way to the surface, but Kamen miss calculated the  
amount of shield she needed to maintain her  
footing and was blasted through the hole once it  
was made.  
  
Kuwabara and Yuusuke watched helplessly as  
she was flung through the opening with her shield  
down and Hiei's power circling around her. With a  
curse Yuusuke grabbed Hiei up and started running  
for the opening. All the youkai were now dead so  
there was no one to stop him. Kuwabara quickly  
followed him out into the sun light. I hope  
Kamen is all right.   
  
The both of them came through the hole at the  
same time and started to searched for Kamen and  
Kurama. They found them both, but not in the way  
either of them had expected. Kurama was over  
Kamen's body with his fist closed around the hilt  
of her dagger that was presently sticking out from  
between her ribs.  
  
Kuwabara felt white hot rage at seeing  
Kamen's blood leak from around the blade imbedded  
in her and onto the ground. He charged Kurama  
with his Reiken blazing, intending to rip Kurama  
to pieces.  
  
--------  
end Ch7  
  
Wow, that was a long one. I think I was trying to  
avoid the conclusion of that chapter so I kept  
writing and writing. Anyway you can't fight fate  
^_-!  
Comments and replies are welcome, and looked for.   
Please let me know if this gets to you! 


	8. eight

Disclaimer: None of these people are mine, except  
Kamen, Yuurei (AKA Koishii), and the mystery man.  
  
Broken Mask  
Chapter 8  
By Kat Aubuchon  
  
  
Kurama sat on the end of his bed watching  
Yuusuke pace in circles. Yuusuke was the only one  
that believed him when he said he didn't stab  
Kamen. Kurama couldn't really blame the others  
for not completely trusting him, they had found  
him with his hand on the dagger in her chest. It  
still hurt to think they didn't trust him after  
all they had been through, it hurt even more when  
Hiei had turned his back on him.  
  
"Ok Kurama tell me one more time what  
happened." Yuusuke said as he pulled up the only  
chair in the room to sit in front of Kurama.   
  
Kurama gave a long sigh. he thought as the events of three days  
ago played in his mind.  
  
[Kurama's flashback]  
  
Kurama heard Yuusuke curse as he was tackled.   
He had just enough time to realize that the blast  
that was meant for the crush of youkai coming at  
them had been redirected to the ceiling.   
Reactions born of instinct made him jump to the  
side to avoid the falling stone, and the fear of  
being over run with youkai made him jump to the  
level above him.  
Once there he wasn't left alone. One of the  
A-class youkai that had been in the group below  
had followed him up.  
  
Kurama need to get back down that opening to  
see what was happening with his friends, but the  
youkai blocked his way. He had no time for a long  
involved fight so he led the youkai on a chase.  
Kurama ran through the rooms of the upper level  
looking for his opportunity. Then it came. In  
the room ahead he could see a opening to the  
outside. He passed through the opening and press  
his body to the side so that when the youkai came  
running through Kurama would be behind him. With  
Kurama now being in the woods he had a variety of  
weapons to use, but he went for something simple  
and quick.  
  
As the youkai came through the opening half a  
dozen razor sharp thorns, each three feet long,  
pierced his body. Most of them went through his  
torso, but the killing blow came from the one that  
went through his skull. He was dead long before  
his body hit the ground. Kurama leaned down to  
make sure that the youkai was dead when he felt  
the ground start to tremble. He didn't know how  
he could have missed someone building up the  
volume of power he felt now, but he knew that if  
he didn't move that power was going to rip through  
the ground beneath him and kill him.   
  
He ran to some boulders that were over to the  
side and hoped they would give adequate  
protection. He watched in morbid fascination as  
the black flames of Hiei's dragon stretched into  
the sky. He could even see the unlucky youkai  
that had been caught in the attack, though he  
didn't know how it could survive. With a heart  
stopped by fear he realized who that youkai was.  
  
"Kamen?" he whispered to himself. Kurama thought as he watched  
the most beautiful youkai that had ever wanted him  
dead, was tumbled in the air like a ragdoll. He  
gathered up his strength around him to try and get  
her out, when he saw someone was beating him to  
it. In the blackness of the flames he saw  
something grab her and pull her from the flames.  
The dragon dissipated into the sky, with only a  
trace of heat in the air.  
  
Kurama quickly followed the figure and Kamen  
as they descended. He was running toward them  
when he noticed that he couldn't see the figure at  
all. It was like there was a hole in space and a  
black nothingness had tried to fill the hole.  
Regardless of the look and the earlier actions of  
the figure, Kurama knew that he was not to be  
trusted. His first big clue was that the figure  
had just taken Kamen's dagger from it's sheath and  
raised it to plunge it into her chest.  
  
Kurama grabbed the figure's hand that held  
the dagger, but it was already too late. The arm  
had already made it's downward motion, and Kurama  
could not stop it. He felt the tip of the dagger  
hit bone and then slide to the side so that it  
could continue downward. The hand that was  
beneath his seemed to melt away and only his  
fingers were around the handle. He tried to look  
around for the figure, but got no farther than  
Kamen's eyes.   
  
The liquid pools of green where wide, full of  
confusion and terror. He could feel her blood  
warm the dagger to almost burning intensity. Her  
eyes slid shut as she tried to make a sound the  
dagger in her lung wouldn't allow. Kurama tried  
to call out to her but his voice was never heard  
over Kuwabara scream of rage. Kurama had just  
enough time to wrap Kuwabara tightly in vines  
before Kuwabara's Reiken had the opportunity to  
cleave his skull open.  
  
Both him and Yuusuke tried to talk sense to  
Kuwabara, but it was no use. He wouldn't listen,  
so Kurama allowed the vines to constrict tight  
enough to cause him to pass out. While they had  
been trying to defuse Kuwabara, Hiei had regained  
consciousness. Kurama watched as Hiei held his  
head close to Kamen's face to hear her whispered  
words.   
  
Kurama didn't need to hear the words to know  
what they were. The look of shock on Hiei's face  
was information enough. Kurama tried to go to  
Hiei and explain, but he never got to take a step.   
Hiei gathered Kamen into his arms and turned his  
back to them.   
  
"I think it's best if all of you go home now.   
I'll take care of this." was all Hiei said before  
he leaped out of sight. Hiei's emotionless words  
had cut Kurama deep.  
  
[end Kurama's flashback]  
  
"I told you before Yuusuke-kun. I don't know  
who that was that stabbed Kamen. Even when his  
hand was in mine, I couldn't even sense his  
presence. It was like he wasn't even there."   
Kurama told him for at least the hundredth time  
that evening.  
  
Yuusuke stood up quickly, knocking the chair  
he was sitting it over. As Yuusuke started to  
pace again Kurama righted the chair and put it  
back in it's place under his desk.  
  
"It just doesn't make any sense! Why would  
someone want you to be blamed for stabbing Kamen?   
The wound was sever but it was well placed not to  
cause permanent damage. Why would someone go  
through the trouble of saving Kamen, just to put a  
knife in her chest?" Yuusuke asked. They were the  
same questions they had been going over for the  
last three days, trying to make sense of this  
madness.  
  
"At least I was able to convince Kuwabara  
that you didn't stab Kamen. The idiot was going  
to try and hunt you down." Yuusuke said as he  
plopped down on Kurama's bed and leaned back on  
the pillows.  
  
Kurama remembered the three hours of arguing  
that was needed to make Kuwabara listen to reason.   
After Yuusuke not so calmly told him that Kurama  
wouldn't need Kamen's own dagger to kill her, and  
that Kurama wouldn't do something as stupid as be  
caught with the dagger in his hand, AND that  
Kurama could kill Kamen at anytime before or after  
the trip, had finally sunk into his brain and he  
had apologized. Kurama hoped it would be that  
easy with Hiei.  
  
"Well, I better get going. I told Keiko that  
I'd met her at her place. I don't want to be...   
Ahh Kurama? When did you get that fox in your  
mirror?" Yuusuke asked.  
  
Kurama had no idea what Yuusuke was talking  
about, but looked at his mirror anyway. Staring  
at them from the glassy surface was a youkai he  
knew very well, in kitsune form.  
  
"What the fuck..." was Kurama dumbfounded  
reply.  
  
=====================  
  
The kitsune watched Kurama and Yuusuke from  
his place in the mirror. He gave a great sigh of  
frustration. he thought as he willed them to see  
him.  
  
As it was the kitsune had been impatiently  
waiting for them to notice him for more than an  
hour. His ears perked up when he heard them speak  
of Kamen. One of his many tails twitched as he  
listened to Kurama's account of past events. They  
all started to thump the imaginary ground under  
him as his anger at the events described grew.   
Soon thumping his tails wasn't enough. He got up  
and started to pace in front of the window of  
reality that was Shuuichi's mirror.  
  
the kitsune fumed as he paced.   
He remembered when the one Kurama had called  
'Kasan' had come in the room to asked how the boys  
were doing. He had found himself hanging on every  
word the human spoke. Her voice reminded him of  
Kamen and the way she would talk to him when they  
were alone.   
  
he sighed and sat back down. I will  
wait as long as I need to, for Kamen's sake. His  
wait was no longer a long one. The one called  
Yuusuke had noticed him. The kitsune looked him  
in the eye and would not let him look away.   
  
"What the fuck..." could be heard though the  
glassy plane that separated him from them. If a  
kitsune could smile this one did. The  
kitsune showed none of his excitement at finally  
being able to do something to help Kamen.   
  
"Let me in Kurama. I can't come into the  
Ningemkai if you don't let me in." he whispered  
with his mind. He was surprised when Yuusuke  
answered.  
  
"Why should we? We don't know who you are?"  
The kitsune laughed.  
  
"Kurama knows who I am... intimately." he  
responded. He kept his eyes on Kurama as the  
shock started to wear off.  
  
"It's all right Yuusuke. I know him." Kurama  
said as he placed his palm on the smooth surface  
of the mirror. The glass misted then faded away.   
The kitsune walked into the room and sat in front  
of Kurama.  
  
"Who is he, Kurama?" Yuusuke asked. Kurama's  
eyebrows pulled together in confusion.  
  
"He... is me."  
===================  
  
Well, there is chapter 8. This thing is taking  
longer than I thought.  
Anyway comments and replies are welcomed and  
looked for.  
  
Kat 


	9. nine

Disclaimer: None of these people are mine, except  
Kamen, Yuurei (AKA Koishii), and the mystery man.  
  
Broken Mask   
Chapter 9  
By Kat Aubuchon  
  
  
Hiei watched as Kamen tried to clear her  
lungs of blood. She had been like this for three  
days now, with no signs of improvement.   
Kamen stopped coughing and Hiei immediately became  
alarmed, when she stopped coughing it usually  
meant she had stop breathing again. Hiei went to  
her bed, but was stopped by Mukuro.  
  
"She's just asleep, let her rest." she said  
as she led Hiei from the room.  
  
"We can't leave her alone," he protested.  
  
"They will watch over her, if she dies they  
will not be far behind," she said loud enough to  
be heard by all, but not loud enough to disturb  
Kamen's fitful sleep.  
  
"Why isn't she getting any better? Any  
youkai would have healed from that wound by now.   
What is going on?" he said in the loudest voice he  
dared.  
  
"Kamen is half youko and half soul-eater.   
The way a soul-eater heals is by devouring souls.   
Kamen has never taken a soul, so she only has her  
youko half to try and heal her. We just have to  
wait." she said as she watched him.  
  
"Can't we get a healer, or something? Maybe  
Yukina...."  
  
"No healer that I know of has ever been able  
to heal a soul-eater. This isn't the first time  
Kamen has had to fight for her life. When she was  
found after being captured by Yomi, Reizen tried  
to find healers to help her, but none of them  
could. Did you see the scars on her back? Do you  
know what you have to do to a youkai to make scars  
like that? She will fight for her life and win,  
just as she did before." Mukuro said with a  
finality that comforted Hiei some. Hiei decided to  
switch the subject a little.  
  
"How were you able to find me and Kamen so  
fast?" He asked. Hiei remembered trying to carry  
her when he had been so weak with lack of youki,  
but still alive because of her. He knew that he  
should have asked Yuusuke or even Kuwabara for  
help, but Kamen's fear was so great that he just  
had to get her out of there as fast as he could.  
  
"Sometime ago I gave Kamen a small piece of  
my soul, so that she could defend herself if she  
ever felt the need to. When she used it I knew  
immediately where she was." she said as she looked  
at the door of Kamen's room.   
  
"You don't do anything for free Mukuro. What  
did she have to do for it?" he asked.  
  
"In exchange she owed me a favor. Anything I  
asked of her, as long as it didn't violate her  
vows to Reizen. I asked her to find you. Even  
though it was killing her to work with Kurama, she  
put that aside to keep her promise, and it still  
may kill her..." Mukuro let her words trail off.   
She didn't need to continue, he knew what she was  
getting at.  
  
She had made Kamen work with Kurama, and  
Kurama had driven a dagger into her chest. Kamen  
lay in the next room fighting to live because  
Mukuro had asked her to find him. She was in  
there, possibly dying, and she had saved his life.  
  
Hiei walked passed Mukuro and into Kamen's  
room. He didn't go to her bed, where she fitfully  
fought for every breath, but to the only window in  
the room. He tried to stop his thoughts, but he  
might as well have tried to understand why  
Kuwabara was the biggest idiot on earth.  
  
Why did Kurama do it? It didn't make sense.   
Kurama could have summoned his rose whip and  
killed her within seconds, why use her dagger?   
Kurama was an experienced killer, why leave her  
alive as a witness? Kurama could have picked any  
time and place, why there where he could be caught  
and when there were people to catch him? Kamen  
was bearly A-class on a good day, why would he  
even bother with her at all?  
  
Under all the questions there was only one  
truth. Kamen had told him that Kurama was the one  
who stabbed her, but he didn't believe her. He  
didn't what to believe her, but he had seen what  
she had seen with his Jagan. Kurama over her,  
smiling cruelly as he took her own dagger and  
pushed it into her chest. Hiei had seen that  
smile on Kurama's youko form, but never on his  
human one. It had twisted his face into something  
horrible, grotesque.  
  
Hiei was brought out of his thoughts as Kamen  
started screaming and thrashing on the bed. Her  
words were incoherent and her screams only served  
to pull more blood from her body and into her  
lungs. Hiei desperately tried to hold her still as  
he yelled for Mukuro's help.  
  
=====================  
  
Yuusuke followed Kurama and Yuurei though the  
woods. Yuusuke thought that Kurama's tale of how  
him and Kamen were connected was weird and the  
tale he told of the 'not there' figure almost  
unbelievable, until he heard Yuurei's story.   
  
[Yuusuke's flashback]  
  
The kitsune had walked through the mirror and  
sat himself in front of Kurama. Yuusuke put  
himself on the defensive. Kurama may think that  
this kitsune was safe, but he hadn't been shown  
any proof.   
  
"Who is he, Kurama?" he asked, keeping a  
careful eye on the kitsune. Kurama hesitated a  
second then his eyebrows drew together.  
  
"He is... me." was Kurama's stunned reply.  
Yuusuke couldn't help but gape at the two of them.  
  
"A more accurate description would be to say  
I am a part of Kurama. He's kitsune part." the  
kitsune said as he walked across the room to the  
bed. As he walked that distance he pasted through  
the square of moonlight provided by the window.   
The kitsune cast no shadow in the moonlight, and  
in the moonlight Yuusuke could see strait through  
him. Yuusuke also noticed that when he jumped up  
onto the bed the sheets under him did not go down  
with his weight.  
  
"Your..."  
  
"Dead," the kitsune finished for Yuusuke. "It  
seems to be something I'm good at." he add with a  
mischievous look in his eyes.  
  
"Is this true, Kurama?" Yuusuke asked. He  
didn't take his eyes off the kitsune, unwilling to  
trust the ghost.  
  
"I... I just don't know." was Kurama's shaky  
response.  
  
"What do you mean 'you don't know'? If he's  
a part of you shouldn't you remember?" Yuusuke  
asked.  
  
"He might not remember what happen all those  
years ago when we were separated. Remember he  
happened to be dying at the time." the kitsune  
said. He walked along the bed until he was at the  
end closest to Kurama. "There is a way to remember  
though, the Omoide Mirror we stole about two  
hundred years ago and hid in the Ningenkai. In  
fact we hid it not too far from here, we could go  
now and leave for the Makai in the morning." the  
kitsune said as he jumped down from the bed and  
walked to the door.  
  
"Wait! Kurama, do you think that this is a  
good idea?" Yuusuke asked. He didn't like that  
the kitsune was now giving orders to the both of  
them. Kurama stood and walked over to the door.  
  
"If he knows where I hid the mirror then he  
is me, and I can use the mirror to remember. I  
think we should go. There are just too many  
questions left unanswered, about him and Kamen to  
suit me." Kurama turned to the kitsune. "What  
name did you go by? I know you couldn't have used  
Kurama or I would have heard about it."  
  
The kitsune swished his tails from side to  
side. "They called me Yuurei. Kamen gave me  
another name, but that's personal. Can we leave  
now." Yuurei said as he walked out the door.  
  
[end Yuusuke's flashback]  
  
Yuusuke continued following the translucent  
kitsune as they came to a small pond. Yuurei came  
to the base of a very large tree and sat on the  
ground beside it.  
  
"The mirror is under this tree. I don't have  
the plant mage powers Kurama does to move the  
tree. Besides that I'm a ghost, I couldn't use  
those powers even if I had them." he said. Yuurei  
looked up at Kurama for conformation. Kurama  
didn't answer, but placed his hand on the tree  
trunk. The ground trembled a bit as the roots  
beneath them twisted and pulled. Soon the roots  
popped out of the ground, with the mirror. Kurama  
took the mirror and let the root return to the  
ground. With his sleeve he wiped the surface of  
the polished silver clean.  
  
Yuurei was staring at Kurama intently. When  
Kurama did nothing but stare at the mirror, he  
gave a sigh. "Kurama, there is nothing the mirror  
can tell you that isn't the truth."  
  
Kurama closed his eyes and gripped the mirror  
tightly in his hands. His voice was a whisper in  
the darkness, "Show me the day I died and came to  
be Minamino Shuuichi."  
  
=====================  
  
He watched them from the shadows of the  
woods. The smile on his face would have showed  
his joy, if anyone had the ability to see him that  
is. It was a stroke of luck  
that Kurama had found him with Kamen, and tried to  
stop him. His illusions were very good, but  
nothing is better than seeing the real thing.  
  
His grin broadened.   
  
  
The figure watched as Kurama uncovered the  
mirror and made his request. He looked down at the  
gem he had made to reflect Kamen's physical  
condition. He could tell that she was having a  
rough time and probably would not make it to  
morning.   
  
I can't have that now. I have worked too  
hard and too long to let all this slip through my  
fingers. he vanished without a sound. His feet  
didn't even leave footprints in the mud of the  
forest floor.  
  
================  
end chapter 9  
  
Well, I think my writing spree is over. Time to  
do homework.  
As always, comments and replies are appreciated.  
  
Kat 


	10. ten

None of these people were my idea, except Kamen, the  
mystery man (he will get a name soon, I promise!), and   
maybe Yuurei (AKA Koishii).  
  
Broken Mask  
Chapter 10  
by Kat Aubuchon  
  
Kamen's entire body burned with pain. She  
couldn't breathe, she was drowning. She needed to  
breathe, she needed to cut through the darkness.  
She hated the dark, she'd been in the dark too  
long. She fought against the bonds that held her  
down. Yomi would be coming soon, to ask her if  
she was ready to accept his offer. He would come  
in and put up false pretenses of being worried for  
her health and well-being.   
  
He had already made it clear what he wanted.   
She knew that she would give in eventually. She  
had to live, there was something, someone she was  
suppose to help, protect. Who?   
  
"Yuurei, I have to protect Yuurei." she said  
into the thick darkness, but as she said it she  
knew it wasn't true. Yuurei was dead. She had  
held him in her arms as he took his last breath.   
She had stroked his soft fur, felt his heartbeat  
slow and stop. Her closest friend, her mentor,  
her reason for living. It had taken Yomi himself  
to separate her from her Koishii's corpse. For  
her refusal to obey, Yomi had whipped her into  
unconsciousness everyday for a month. He told her  
that all she had to do to stop the beatings was to  
skin the kitsune and give the pelt to him.   
  
Each time he came to see her he asked, and  
each time she had spit in his face. Sometime  
during her stay with him Yomi's intention for  
Kamen changed. He told her that he had  
'misplaced' the kitsune carcass, and that his new  
request might be more favorable to her. He would  
be coming soon to hear her answer. She knew that  
she was going to say yes. She knew that she was  
going to give in. She had to live.  
  
Kamen heard the door of her cell open. It  
had been two weeks since the last time she had  
seen light. It hurt her eyes to look at the cell  
doorway, but she didn't look away. She may give  
in to Yomi's demands, but she'd be damned if he'd  
see her cower. She watched as he entered the  
room. He had his servants place torches in the  
corners of the room. The torches seemed out of  
place in Yomi's technologically advanced city, but  
they did wonders for the mood.  
  
The red flames cast an eerie light on Yomi's  
face. Red shadows flickered across his closed  
eyes. His horns seemed sharper and his ears  
longer in the this dim light. He came to sit next  
to her, as a father would a sick child. With a  
wave of his hand he dismissed his servants. He  
placed his fingertips on her forehead then traced  
the side of her face down to her neck, down to her  
collarbone, down to her broken ribs, down to her  
hip, down to her thigh. He stopped there to  
caress her bare skin, then traced his hand back up  
to place it on her belly.   
  
Even though Kamen was only eleven she was  
fully grown. She would get no taller, or grow in  
anyway. She looked now how she would always look  
until she died. When she had hit puberty at the  
age of eight Yuurei had teased her that she had  
learned to grow 'out' but not 'up'. At first she  
had been pissed that her body would do the things  
it was doing to her, but she soon learned how to  
use it to her advantage. Right here, and right  
now Kamen felt like she was eight years old again  
and her body was betraying her.  
  
"Are you going to accept my generous offer?"  
he asked as he traced each of her broken ribs  
lightly.  
  
"I will agree to your offer, if, when it is  
done, I can leave with no attachments." she stated  
calmly. Yomi apparently didn't like her answer.  
He sent solid ribbons of energy around her chest,  
and started to tighten. Kamen could feel the  
edges of her broken ribs grind together. She  
could feel her lungs filling with blood, making it  
impossible for her to make a sound. She gasped for  
air, and pleaded with her eyes for him to stop.   
  
Slowly Kamen became aware that the man siting  
next to her was no longer Yomi. The red fire  
light had changed the color of his hair from black  
to blood red. His eyes were now open to reveal  
eyes the same color as her own. The horns were  
now gone, and the energy bands around her turned  
to barbed vines. Kurama grinned down at her.  
  
"How sweet, the whore is dreaming about her  
lover. Was he that good Kamen?" he laughed at  
her terror. "It's a good thing that I'm going to  
kill you Kamen, you really are pathetic. You  
didn't deserve to live in the first place." Kamen  
watched as he brought her dagger up for her to  
see.   
  
"Your father killed your whore mother. This  
dagger killed your father, and now its going to  
kill you." he swung his arm down and she felt the  
dagger enter her chest, and puncher her lung. He  
pulled the blade from her and a stream of blood  
came with it. It splattered across his face and  
into his hair, where it disappeared. He kept  
stabbing her with glee in his eyes, soon there was  
no end to the red. She couldn't tell the  
difference between her blood and his hair.   
  
"Why do you fight so hard? I have either  
killed or taken everything you hold dear. Why not  
just die, and make it easy on yourself?" he  
leered.  
  
"NO! I won't let you win! Not this time, and  
never again." From somewhere inside of her Kamen  
pulled her strength together. She strained  
against her bonds and they ripped like paper.   
Kamen grabbed Kurama's wrists and came to a  
crouching position in front of him. The look of  
surprise on his face was all the encouragement she  
needed. She twisted each of his wrists outward  
until she heard them snap.  
  
His once beautiful face was twisted with  
anger and pain. She felt her heart race at being  
the one to bring him that pain. She brought her  
knee up to connect with his jaw. At the same time  
she kneed him she let go of his wrists. He  
stumbled backward until he came to the wall.  
Kurama put his forearm up to his mouth to wipe the  
trickle of blood there.  
  
"Do you really think that will stop me? Even  
if you where able to kill this body, I'll find  
another one, and another, and another until I kill  
you." he said. Kamen could hear the bones in his  
wrist popping back together, as he pushed himself  
away from the wall.  
  
Kamen was beyond rational thinking, she flew  
at him and wrapped her hands around his throat.   
It was such a pale and delicate thing the throat  
in her hands. She knew that she could crush it  
easily, but he was right. Even if he killed this  
body he would just take another one. She knew  
what she had to do. She grinned at the possibility  
of ending his existence all together.  
  
"You can't take a new body, if you don't have  
a soul." she said in a calm voice. She  
constricted her hands so that he couldn't breathe.   
She need to take his next breath in order to take  
his soul. As she held his throat tight she  
noticed that his skin was much warmer than it  
should have been, and he was a lot shorter too.  
  
The world around her began to change and  
shift. The cell walls melted away, and were  
replaced by the walls of her room in Mukuro's  
capital. The throat in her grasp was not  
Kurama's, but the little fire demon that she  
nearly lost her life over.  
  
"Hiei?" she asked in a confused voice. She  
loosened her grip and that was all the invitation  
Hiei needed. With the speed that was his nature,  
Hiei kicked her in her midsection. The well  
placed kick flung her back into Mukuro's waiting  
arms.  
  
"What the fuck do you think your doing,  
Kamen?" he asked as he rubbed his throat.   
  
Kamen gave him a lopsided smile. "I knew  
there was something I liked about you, Hiei. Your  
so sweet and genteel." As she passed out into a  
quieter darkness she could her Mukuro's deep  
laughter.  
  
===================  
  
Yuurei paced, and paced, and paced some more.  
  
"Would you stop pacing! Your driving me  
nuts!" Yuusuke yelled.   
  
"It's taking too long. We need to be in the  
Makai now!" Yuurei yelled back.  
  
"Well, pacing isn't going to make anything  
move faster!" muttered Yuusuke.   
  
"Yuusuke, who are you talking to?" Kuwabara  
asked.  
  
"Yuurei"  
  
"Who's Yuurei?"  
  
"Kurama's kitsune form that happens to be a  
ghost pacing right over there." Yuusuke said as he  
pointed in the general direction of Kuwabara's  
left.   
  
"A ghost here, next to me!" Kuwabara shrieked  
as he jumped onto the porch.  
  
Yuurei sighed in annoyance, "Where did you  
pick this guy up from?" he asked Yuusuke.  
  
"Old school chum."  
  
"Kamen probably likes him, doesn't she?"  
Yuurei asked.  
  
"How did you know?" Yuusuke asked in  
surprised.  
  
"She likes to befriend dumb animals." Yuurei  
answered with glint in his eye.  
  
"I guess that explains why she likes you  
then." Kuwabara said behind his smile. Yuusuke and  
Yuurei blinked repeatedly in surprise.  
  
"You little asshole! How long have you been  
able to hear me?!" Yuurei demanded.  
  
"Since you started talking, baka." Kuwabara  
laughed. His was grinning right at the kitsune.  
"And I can see you too." He then stuck out his  
tongue.  
  
Yuusuke started to laugh and Yuurei started  
to growl, but no one noticed that Kurama had seen  
none of this. He stood on the porch of Genkai's  
temple, looking out over the forest. The Omoide  
mirror was clutched tightly in his hand. He had  
to find Kamen and fix things. Even though Yuurei  
hadn't said it Kurama knew that Kamen was special  
to him, and therefore she was special to him too.  
  
he asked himself.   
Yuurei said that he had never told Kamen who he  
really was, because at the time it didn't seem  
important. Kurama knew that Yuurei had the same  
fear of Kamen Kurama had of Shiori. If they knew  
what they truly were would they want them anymore?  
  
Kurama looked down at the mirror and wished  
it would show him more than just his memories.   
The memories that it had shown him had made him  
think about what he had once done.   
  
The mirror could only show him the cold facts  
of his life. None of the emotions that would go  
with those memories were in the mirror's cold  
surface. Kurama had watched while he was killed,  
while he flung himself to Shiori, while he ripped  
Kamen from her rightful place. In the smooth hard  
surface of the mirror he could see himself  
separate his kitsune self from him and send it  
after her. What was missing from all those images  
was the why.   
  
Yuurei had told them that when he returned to  
the body that Kurama had left for dead a fellow  
youko had found him and nursed him back to health.   
The irony of the whole thing was that if Kurama  
had of stayed in his body he would have lived. He  
would have never taken Kamen's place as Shuuichi,  
he would have never been raised as a human child,  
would have never learned to love, never have met  
Hiei...   
  
Kurama's heart was beyond confused. He felt  
great pain at what he had deprived Kamen of, the  
love of a mother that was strong enough to change  
the ways of a 400+ year old youko, the friendships  
Kamen would have formed, and all the little things  
that she knew nothing about because she was raised  
in the Makai. But despite all that Kurama had to  
admit to himself that he wasn't sorry that he was  
Shuuichi, and if given the choice and knowing the  
pain he caused Kamen he would do it all over  
again. Kurama didn't want to dwell on things he  
could not change and would not change given the  
chance. Right now he had other things to worry  
about.  
  
Yuurei was sure that Kamen was being used by  
someone for her special powers. Through the years  
Yuurei had been able to protect her from this  
unknown person most of the time, but sometimes he  
couldn't. This person would come into her dreams  
and change them, twist them into something they  
were not. Kamen could remember things she  
shouldn't about before she was born. Events were  
turned and misinterpreted in the worst ways.   
Yuurei said that after a particularly bad spell,  
Kamen had gone to the Ningenkai to kill Kurama.  
  
Kamen was a very good thief and Kurama had  
never known she was there that night. Yuurei said  
that she had raised her dagger and was about to  
kill the sleeping Shuuichi when Shiori had come  
into the room. Kamen had hid in the shadows of  
the room and watched. Kamen watched as Shiori  
lovingly swept the hair from Kurama's eyes, and  
listened as she sang to him. From his perch on  
the tree outside Yuurei had watched as Kamen cried  
silently into her arms. It was the first time  
Yuurei had ever seen her cry. The only other time  
had been when he had died in her arms.  
  
Kurama was startled when Yuusuke placed his  
hand on Kurama's shoulder. "We're ready to go  
Kurama." he said. Kurama nodded his head in  
acknowledgment. Kurama pulled his backpack over  
his shoulder and followed Yuusuke to the portal.   
Kurama  
thought.  
  
"Are you two going to like, you know, get  
back together, or something?" Kuwabara asked  
looking at Yuurei and Kurama.  
  
"No we decided that Kamen might take it  
better if we were still separate when we see her,"  
Kurama answered.  
  
"If she lets you live long enough to explain  
to her that is," Yuusuke said as they stepped into  
the portal.  
  
==================  
Personally I hate chapters like this. They don't  
have any action and all they do is set up the next  
chapter, but I guess they're necessary. As always  
comments and replies welcome and looked for.  
Kat 


	11. eleven

None of these people are my idea, except Kamen,  
and Yuurei (AKA Koishii).  
  
Broken Mask  
Chapter 11 (sort of)  
by Kat Aubuchon  
  
  
Mukuro walked down the corridor that led to  
Kamen's room. When Kamen had woken up and  
attacked Hiei, and after Hiei knocked Kamen back  
out, Mukuro was called away on business. Mukuro  
hated that her position made her spend most of her  
time away from the things she really wanted to do.   
Holding Kamen had brought back pleasant memories  
of when they had been together. Mukuro smiled at  
the turn of her thoughts.  
  
Kamen had become Mukuro's lover about three  
years after Yomi had captured her. Kamen had told  
her bluntly that she was with Mukuro to spy for  
Reizen. Kamen had always held herself in low  
regard, but since Yomi she had gotten worse. She  
considered her body as a tool, a means to an end.   
She didn't believe that she was a real person, but  
a pretender, an imposture. When Yuurei had been  
alive he had made Kamen happy. He gave Kamen  
someone to care for, someone to believe in. That  
was why Mukuro never told Kamen that Yuurei was  
really Kurama.  
  
Mukuro stopped in front of Kamen's door. She  
could hear Hiei and Kamen talking inside, and she  
smiled to herself.   
Mukuro thought as she tried to listen better.  
[can be heard from the  
room]  
  
"Hiei, you can't be telling be that you've  
*never* done this before." Kamen said in a low  
voice.  
  
"Is that so surprising?" he asked.  
  
"With as old as you are, and living in the  
Makai, yes."  
  
"Well, it is my first time." Hiei said with a  
embarrassed growl.  
  
"No need to get testy. I'll show you how.   
Don't worry, it's easy." she said in a soft purr.  
  
"Hn." was his only reply.  
  
"The first thing to learn is that it's not a  
sword," Kamen said slowly. "You just can't be  
thrusting it in and out anyway you please. You'll  
end up hurting me that way."  
  
"So how do I do it?" he asked annoyed.  
  
"Well, just go strait in and strait out,  
nothing fancy. Take your time. I'll still be here  
when your done." she said with a smile in her  
voice.  
  
"Very funny, Kamen." he said with just a  
little quiver in his voice "Ok I'm ready." There  
was a rustle of clothes and sheets in the room.  
  
"Ugh... Hiei? How are you going to do this  
if you have your eyes closed?" Kamen asked.   
  
"Shut up." Hiei hissed.  
  
"Hiei, this was your idea remember. If you  
don't want to..."  
  
"No, I said I would do it and I will. It's  
just that..."  
  
"What?" Kamen asked quietly.  
  
"I... I don't want to hurt you." he  
whispered.  
  
"Hiei, I've been hurt a lot worse than  
anything you could do to me. Now, shut up and do  
it before you make yourself nervous." she said in  
a playful tone.  
  
"Ok, here it goes."  
  
"Yeow, Hiei! How far are you planing on  
putting that thing!" Kamen yelled in pain.  
  
"Sorry!" Hiei yelled back.  
  
"Maybe I should let Mukuro show you had to do  
it?" she said with a sigh.   
  
[back in hall with  
Mukuro]  
  
Mukuro had heard enough. She push the door  
open and stepped inside. Mukuro looked over at  
the occupants on the bed. Kamen was on her back  
naked from the waist up, her long hair in a braid  
that fell over one shoulder and her hands behind  
her head. Hiei sat straddled on Kamen's naked  
stomach with his hands on her bare chest.  
  
"What are you two doing?" Mukuro asked.  
  
"Mukuro, I'm glad your here." Kamen said  
cheerfully.  
  
"You are?" Mukuro asked puzzled.  
  
"Yes! Mukuro did you know that Hiei has  
never learned how to stitch up a wound?" Kamen  
asked.  
  
"A wound?" Mukuro parroted.  
  
"Yeah, a wound. When he kicked me earlier he  
opened up my stitches, and offered to restitch it  
for me. I've been trying to show him how but the  
first time he tried he nearly punched my lung!"  
she said.  
  
"I did not nearly puncher your lung. The  
needle isn't that long!" Hiei argued.  
  
"Well, it felt like you were trying to stitch  
it form the backside to the front. I'm surprised  
I'm not sewn into the bed." she teased.  
  
"If you didn't move around so much and talk  
so much, maybe I would have been able to do a  
better job!" he growled. Hiei had no idea how  
ridiculous he looked siting on top of a naked  
gorgeous girl, his hands on her chest and arguing  
about whether or not he was stitching her up  
right.   
  
Mukuro couldn't help herself, she started to  
laugh.  
  
"What are you laughing about?" Hiei asked.  
  
"When I first walked in I thought..." she  
didn't finish as she started a new round of  
laughter. Through the tears in her eyes Mukuro  
could see that Kamen had caught her meaning. They  
smiled at each other, and Kamen started to laugh  
too.  
  
"What did you think we were doing, and WHAT  
IS SO FUNNY?!"  
  
Kamen placed a comforting hand on Hiei's  
shoulder. "I'll tell you when your older." she  
said in between giggles.  
==============  
Sorry about this. I was just in a punchy mood  
today. It started out as a real chapter but  
degraded fast. I'll start the real next chapter  
of Broken Mask soon. =P Comment are still nice.  
  
Kat 


	12. tweleve

Disclaimer: None of these people are mine. Ok, I  
guess I have to take responsibility for Kamen,  
Kurayami, and Yuurei.  
  
Broken Mask  
Chapter 12  
by Kat Aubuchon  
  
  
Kurama watched Yuurei through the flames of  
the campfire, wondering what his kitsune-self was  
thinking about. Even though Yuurei was a part of  
Kurama the two of them had lived separate lives  
since Kurama became Shuuichi. He was no longer  
sure he could guess what the kitsune was thinking.   
Kurama could see that Yuurei had earned a new tail  
in his time with Kamen. He knew what it took to  
earn a tail, and he wanted to ask him what great  
experience had happened to earn him that tail.   
Kurama knew that once he and Yuurei reunite he  
would have all the memories of that time, but he  
also knew that they would be colored by his own  
life as Shuuichi.  
  
Mukuro's capital had not been where they had  
been told it would be, so the foursome was forced  
to camp for the night. Kurama offered to take the  
first watch, his thoughts wouldn't let him sleep.   
He looked around the camp and noticed that he  
wasn't the only one that couldn't sleep. Yuusuke  
watched the fire moodily, and Kuwabara was  
plucking blades of grass and watching Yuurei.   
Kurama was surprised when Kuwabara crawled over to  
Yuurei on his hands and knees and sat down beside  
him.   
  
"What do you want?" Yuurei asked Kuwabara  
when he became aware of the human's presence.  
  
"Kamen told me that if I ever met you to ask  
you why she didn't become a thief. Since your  
here I'm asking." Yuurei gave a sigh and turned to  
face Kuwabara.  
  
"It's too long of a story and I'm not much of  
a story teller."  
  
"Can't you use that mirror thingy and just  
show me?" One of Yuurei's tails thumped the  
ground.  
  
"No, baka, I can't use the mirror. You have  
to be able to touch it to make it work and since  
I'm a *ghost* I can't touch it."  
  
"Can Kurama do it?" Yuusuke asked. Yuurei and  
Kuwabara jumped in surprised by his sudden  
intrusion in their conversation.  
  
"How could Kurama show us Yuurei's memories?"  
Yuusuke gave a glare.  
  
"Yuurei is a part of Kurama, baka. Kurama  
could touch the mirror for Yuurei." Yuusuke turned  
his attention to Kurama. "Oi, Kurama, do you think  
it could work?"  
  
"We could try it." While Kurama went through  
his pack to find the mirror Yuusuke and Kuwabara  
crawled over to him. He pulled the silver mirror  
from the pack and felt a little excited by the  
prospect of seeing a portion of a life that was,  
and was not, a part of his.  
  
Kurama placed the mirror on the ground so  
that all of them could see it. He looked up at  
Yuurei and silently asked if he wanted to ask the  
mirror or did he want him to do it. Yuurei hung  
his head and walked over to the expecting group.   
He sat on the grass across from Kurama and looked  
into his eyes.  
  
"Show me the day me and Kamen raided the  
Futousei no Yousai."   
  
"The Futousai no Yousai!?" Kurama asked in  
great surprise. He sat there stunned at the  
implication. He, as youko Kurama, had tried for  
nearly a hundred years to get into that fortress,  
but never succeeded. The mirror started to react  
to Yuurei's request and the smooth surface showed  
two sleeping figures in a lust green forest, with  
a wide stream near by.  
  
A young Kamen lay on her back in the grass  
with her one arm as a pillow behind her head and  
the other wrapped loosely around Yuurei's  
shoulders. Yuurei was half laying on Kamen with  
his muzzle tucked under her chin and the rest of  
his body lying parallel to hers. Yuurei was  
longer than Kamen was tall and his large kitsune  
body dwarfed the small youkai easily. If it  
wasn't for Kamen's bright hair she could have been  
over looked by any passer-by.  
  
Kurama was struck by how young and innocent  
she looked in sleep. He spared a glance at Yuurei  
and saw the deep emotion that showed on the  
kitsune's face. He had seen that look before and  
knew the implications of it being directed at  
Kamen. Yuurei loved Kamen, there was no doubt in  
his mind. He heard Yuusuke chuckle at something  
he was seeing in the mirror and was compelled to  
look himself.  
  
Yuurei had woken up and was now trying,  
unsuccessfully, to wake Kamen. He was pawing at  
her shoulder and telling her to wake up. When  
that didn't work he used his nose to push at her  
cheek. Kamen didn't take kindly to the cold wet  
wake up call and rolled over on her side, she used  
her hair to hide her face. Yuurei gave a huff and  
used his nose to move her hair out of his way and  
then bit her ear. Kamen was instantly awake.  
  
Kuwabara laughed out loud as a very mad Kamen  
used what leverage she had to pull Yuurei to the  
ground and then proceeded to sit on top of him as  
she yelled at him. She called Yuurei some very  
interesting names that Kurama was sure Yuurei had  
taught her. Yuurei used his larger body to fling  
her from his back and on to the ground. He then  
pounced on top of her and gave her a tongue bath  
that she obviously thought she didn't need.  
  
Kurama was surprised by the open affection  
Yuurei showed Kamen. It had never been his way,  
before he was Shuuichi, to show his feelings so  
openly. If someone was important to him he showed  
it by not dumping them at a moments notice.   
Obviously Kamen had made some major changes to  
this hardened and jaded youko.  
  
The wrestling continued until Kamen was on  
Yuurei's back again. An evil grin appeared on her  
face as she grabbed Yuurei's ears. The kitsune  
yelped in pain. She said something about tit for  
tat, as she then released his ears to place her  
hands on his neck behind the ears. She buried her  
fingers into the thick fur and began to scratch.   
  
Kurama knew from experience how good that  
felt, and shivered at the memories as did Yuurei  
in front of him. His counterpart in the mirror  
laid his ears flat, his eyes closed, and his  
entire body went limp. Kamen continued the  
massage down the kitsune's back until she reached  
his tails. She took each in her hand separately  
and ran her finger down their lengths.  
  
"I thought you were mad at me Kamen?" Yuurei  
asked in a dreamy far off voice. Kamen gave a  
girlish giggle, something Kurama thought he's  
never hear from her, and patted Yuurei's head.  
  
"I can never be mad at you for long, Koishii.   
Your my best friend." she answered as she walked  
to the stream. Yuurei opened one of his eyes and  
perked up his ears, in interest.  
  
"So, there's nothing I can do to make you mad  
enough at me to hate me?" he asked with mischief  
in his voice. Kurama knew he was using it to cover  
his nervousness.  
  
"What could you possibly do to make me hate  
you, Koishii?" Kamen didn't see his ears droop, or  
his eyes show his pain. "You've been acting  
awfully strangely lately. What's the deal?"  
  
"I guess I'm just worried about the dreams  
you have been having lately." Yuurei sat up and  
watched as Kamen froze kneeling by the stream.  
  
"That does my dreams about that bastard  
Kurama have to so with you? It's not like I hate  
youko's because of him. I'd have to hate everyone  
in the village, and myself." she said quietly.  
  
"Then why don't you ever use your youko form,  
and why don't you act like a thief. You've been  
training to be a thief all your life, your seven  
now and haven't stolen one thing yet."   
  
"I just don't want to, that's all." she said  
coolly. She stood up and waded into the water,  
until it was up to mid calf. Kurama watched as  
Yuurei took off at a run strait for Kamen.  
  
"Who ever heard of a thief that didn't want  
to steal!" he yelled just before he hit Kamen  
square in the back at full speed. She went face  
first into the water, and then came up screaming  
  
"You son-of-a-bitch!" Kamen grabbed Yuurei  
around the neck and rolled onto her back using her  
right foot in his belly to send him flying over  
her head and into the deeper part of the stream.  
Yuurei came in his feet and found that the water  
only came to his shoulders. Kurama saw the look on  
Kamen's face, it was the same look she had when  
she had tried to kill him.  
  
"I show you, Yuurei! I'll show you that I am  
a thief, because I'm going to steal the golden  
dragon whip from the Futousei no Yousai!" Kamen  
stomped to where she kept her belongings and  
started to change her wet clothes for dry ones.   
Kurama almost laughed at Yuusuke and Kuwabara's  
discomfort at seeing her change. Yuurei only  
snorted in disgusted at their reaction.   
  
"Kamen, wait!" Yuurei started to leap his way  
to the bank when noticed that Kamen had already  
gathered her gear and left.  
  
Kurama saw that Yuurei didn't waste anytime  
in searching for Kamen, because he knew where she  
was going. Kurama could feel his own pulse race  
with fear for Kamen's safety, even though he knew  
that she wasn't killed. Yuurei did exactly what  
Kurama would have done in that situation. He ran  
the shortest route to the fortress. Yuurei was  
little more than a silver blur among the ferns on  
the forest floor. When the kitsune came to the  
fortress he searched the perimeter for Kamen.  
  
He found her with on of the slaves of the  
current ruler of fortress. She had unlocked the  
shackles from the waifs wrists and ankles, and  
placed them on her own. She was wearing the  
slave's filthy clothes, and the slave was wearing  
hers. He listened as she told the wretched youkai  
to run and not to look back, which he did with  
pleasure.  
  
Yuurei watched in fascination as Kamen pulled  
up the helm of the long tunic and carefully  
strapped and hid her dagger on the inside of her  
thigh. She took her hair down from her headdress  
and it fell around her shoulders in golden waves.   
Kurama noticed that at this age Kamen's hair was  
only down to middle of her back.   
  
All of them watched as she bent down and  
gathered mud and dirt in her hands and rubbed it  
into her hair and her skin. When she was done she  
looked as bad as the slave she had just let go.   
Kurama face lit up into a smile of understanding.  
  
  
"Hiding right under their noses was one of  
the first things I taught her." Yuurei informed  
them. Yuusuke and Kurama looked at him and saw  
the pride he had for Kamen.  
  
"Holy shit! What'z she doin' that for?"  
Kuwabara asked pointing at the mirror.  
  
In the mirror they could see that Kamen was  
using the shackles to rub her wrists and ankles  
raw and bleeding. Next she took some sharp stones  
from the ground and rubbed them on her soft skin.   
Soon she was a mass of tiny bleeding cuts. Once  
satisfied that it was enough she took a deep  
breath and balled up her fist. Her punch  
connected with her left cheek with a audible  
crack. Tears came to her eyes and fell down her  
cheeks, making clean tracks in the dirt.  
  
"It wouldn't be a very good disguise if she  
didn't look like a slave, and what slave doesn't  
have cuts, bruises, and raw wrists?" Yuurei said  
as he continued to watch the mirror.  
  
"Wait here for me, Koishii. It won't take  
long," The Yuurei in the mirror jumped at her  
voice. It was clear that the Yuurei didn't think  
that Kamen knew that he was there. Kamen ran  
toward the fortress before he had a chance to  
respond. As she ran one of the guards saw her and  
ran after her to catch her. Kamen made a great  
show of trying to get away, but then stopped when  
the guard landed a blow to the base of her neck.  
  
Yuurei paced back and forth as he watch the  
guard throw Kamen over his shoulder and take her  
inside. Yuurei's worry turned into stark fear, as  
his pacing became a wild frenzy of movement. Then  
all of the sudden he stopped, and glared at the  
fortress.  
  
"I'll be damned if I'm going to let her get  
herself get killed over this." Yuurei muttered  
under his breath. He raced off into the forest,  
looking for a way in. He was in luck, there was a  
food cart being driven into the fortress. He  
quickly jumped in and hid among the supplies and  
waited. Once inside he crawled out of the cart  
and slipped into the shadows.   
  
As Kurama watched Yuurei try and search for  
Kamen, he remembered why he finally gave up trying  
break into that place. It was nearly impossible  
for Yuurei to move around, there was a guard  
standing at every room and every stairway. Yuurei  
was trying to time the guards on the stairway to  
his left when a frantic servant came running into  
the hall.  
  
"The Golden Dragon whip has been stolen," he  
yelled to the guards. The entire fortress became  
alive with activity. It wasn't long before  
someone noticed Yuurei.  
  
"Sir, over here! There's a youko, he must  
have the whip."  
  
Kurama knew that Yuurei must be in a panic at  
that point. Kurama knew that when he was a thief  
he never entered a place that he didn't have a  
route of escape for. Right now Yuurei had none.   
The panicked kitsune ran through the hall dodging  
the attacks directed at him. He was almost to the  
front gate when he saw Kamen. She was in a group  
of slaves that was being led out of the fortress.  
  
Kamen and Yuurei locked gazes as the guards  
encircled Yuurei. Yuurei was trapped and there  
was nothing he could do to escape. The circle of  
guards pressed closer, but none of them were brave  
enough to come within teeth range of the kitsune.   
That problem was solved by the archers. They  
raised their bows and drew back their strings.   
  
Yuurei closed his eyes waiting for the arrows  
to pierced his body and kill him. Kurama was  
taken back to the time when he had been killed by  
the hunter as he watched Yuurei accept his fate.   
Then there was a blood curdling scream. The three  
of them jumped at the fury in that cry. They  
looked up at Yuurei in unison, but his eyes were  
trained to the mirror as if time would change the  
events that had already happened if he looked  
away.  
  
They all looked back in time to see Kamen  
come flying through the guards, cutting the  
throats of the ones closet to her. Kamen had  
taken off the shackles and had drawn her dagger  
while everyone was watching Yuurei. The archers  
where so stunned by her death scream that they  
hesitated before they let their arrows go. Kamen  
threw her body across Yuurei's back, the arrows  
aimed for his heart lodged in her shoulder and the  
others took various positions on her small back.   
She wrapped her arms as tight as she could around  
Yuurei's neck.  
  
"Run, Koishii!" she rasped into his ear.   
Yuurei need no other encouragement. The hole that  
Kamen had made when she burst into the ring of  
guards was still there, and Yuurei ran for it.   
The archers continued to fire their arrows, but  
none of them found their mark. Yuurei ran until  
Kamen lost her hold and fell to the ground. Some  
of the arrows snapped in half and a few where  
pulled out completely as she rolled.   
  
She came to a stop on her side, and Yuurei  
nuzzled her neck and whined. A smile spread  
across her face, as she painfully pulled a coiled  
gold whip in the shape of a dragon's serpentine  
body out of her tunic.  
  
"I told you I could do it, Koishii." she  
whispered.  
  
"Yes, you did."  
  
"Koishii, now that I've proven that I'm a  
good thief can I not do this anymore? It hurts."  
  
"Baka, why did you do that?" he asked her as  
he pulled the remaining arrows from her back with  
his teeth. Once that was done he came around to  
face her.   
  
"I couldn't let them hurt you, Koishii your  
my best friend." Kamen placed her hand on the back  
of his neck and pulled his head down so that she  
could place a kiss on his muzzle. "Everything I am  
is because of you. I love you, Koishii, and I'm  
not going to let you die on me."  
  
Kurama's eyes burned with the tears Yuurei  
was crying at her ironic words. She was right,  
everything she was, was because of Yuurei, just  
not in the way she was thinking. Kamen passed out  
before she saw Yuurei's tears, a contented smile  
on her face. The mirror's surface returned to  
polished silver as Yuurei turned his back on it  
and walked away.  
  
"I couldn't take Kamen back to the village,   
Kurayami would have taken advantage of her  
weakened condition, so I tried to take care of her  
myself. She got so sick that I was sure that she  
was going to die. By chance Mukuro found us and  
took Kamen in." Yuurei stopped beside the fire.   
He was staring into the flames as he continued.  
"It was a mixed blessing. Mukuro saved her life,  
but wanted her service in return. Kamen did  
everything that Mukuro told her to do, even spy on  
Yomi. After the first few times nothing happened,  
and I thought that nothing was going to happen the  
last time either."  
  
"What did happen, that last time?" Kurama  
asked him.  
  
"It was going the same as any other time we  
had spied on Yomi, then all of the sudden there  
were youkai everywhere. They used some kind of  
poison dart on Kamen and she went down fast. As I  
was dying I remember Kamen crying over me, begging  
me not to leave her. Yomi had to beat her into  
unconsciousness to make her let go. They dragged  
her off to the labs and that was the last time I  
saw her. That's when Kurayami showed up. The  
bastard had planed the whole thing! He wanted  
Yomi to capture Kamen, but I never found out why.   
He captured my energy inside a crystal and took me  
to his caverns. I wandered around for years in  
those caves before I was able to escape."  
  
"So, now you want to warn her about this  
Kurayami person Why does she fall for this guy's  
tricks, anyway?" Yuusuke asked.  
  
"Kurayami was the village elder that took  
care of Kamen's mother's soulless body until Kamen  
was born. He raised her until I came when she was  
three. He had been using his powers of illusion  
to make her believe anything he told her. He was  
working on controling her before she was ever  
born. I didn't find out about his powers and what  
he had done to Kamen until her powers started to  
show when she was four. That was when the  
nightmares started. She's having one right now  
you know?" Yuurei asked, as he looked out into the  
night sky.  
  
"How do you know?" Kuwabara asked.  
  
"I just know."  
  
"What ever happened to the whip, she stole?"  
Kuwabara asked the dazed kitsune. Yuurei looked  
over at the carrot haired human, with puzzled  
eyes.  
  
"The whip?"  
  
"Yeah, if she worked that hard to get it she  
wouldn't just throw it away. What did she do with  
it?"  
  
"After she recovered, we hid it in the  
Ningenkai. That was the time she tried to kill  
Kurama in his sleep."  
  
"Well, what ever happened to the whip, we  
need to get some sleep before we go looking for  
Mukuro's capital tomorrow. Kurama are you still  
taking first watch?" Yuusuke asked. When Kurama  
nodded Yuusuke and Kuwabara made a show of  
stretching and yawning before they laid down.  
  
Kurama looked at Yuurei through the campfire,  
and knew what he was thinking.  
  
===================  
Well, this was the longest chapter yet. My soon  
to be husband is breathing over my shoulder  
telling me to get off the computer, so I have to  
go now.  
As always comments and replies are welcome and  
looked for.  
  
Kat 


	13. thirteen

Disclaimer: None of these people are mine, except  
Kamen, Yuurei, and Kurayami.  
  
Broken Mask  
Chapter 13  
by Kat Aubuchon  
  
Hiei ignored the smirking faces of the low  
class youkai, as he walked toward Kamen's room.   
He had a pretty good idea of why they were looking  
at him in such an openly amused fashion. Last  
night, after Kamen had awakened from her coma, and  
the scene with the stitches had been the main  
topic in the capital, Hiei had heard a pair of  
snickering youkai in the weapon's room talking  
about the history Mukuro and Kamen had. He wasn't  
surprised to hear that they had been lovers at one  
time, but he was shocked when they said that Kamen  
had been the one to call a halt to the  
relationship. Mukuro *never* took orders, she  
gave them.   
  
Hiei felt the weight of the gift he had in  
the inside of his cloak. He reached his hand  
inside to trace the inlay dragon design on the  
surface of the naturally warm metal, and thought  
of the hours of work he had put into it. It was  
an armband that he had designed to go over the  
black dragon on his right forearm. He had grown  
tired of constantly having to wrap and unwrap the  
covering on his arm and had decided that he needed  
something else. After a couple days of thought he  
came up with the idea of the armband.   
  
It was made of one of the strongest metals  
the Makai had. It was called Dragon's Ward  
because of it's extremely high heat tolerance and  
spell repealing properties, and was perfect for  
his needs. It was very rare. It took him a long  
time to find it, and an even longer time to forge  
it properly. In the end he had a armband that  
would cover the back of his hand and wrap around  
his forearm from wrist to elbow. It would never  
burn or give to direct attack, he made very sure  
of that. The original metal was a light gray, but  
Hiei had put some of his own ki into the metal  
where the inlayed dragon was to make it stand out  
black on the gray. He had spent the better part  
of five months on it, and now he was going to give  
it to Kamen.   
  
He knew that this would only make the wagging  
tongues drool faster, but he didn't care. At  
first he had been surprised at the newest rumor  
was that Kamen had stolen him away from Mukuro.   
Hiei knew that most people believed that he and  
Mukuro were involved, which he thought was  
ridiculous considering he had no interest in  
Mukuro that way. Now they thought that he and  
Kamen were an item. At least that made more sense,  
he liked Kamen. He would have been lying if he  
said that he hadn't thought of Kamen in that way,  
but the more time he spent with her the more  
comfortable he became and the less he felt  
threatened by the idea. Kamen hadn't made any  
moves on him, unlike other females that were  
interested in him. There were the jokes and the  
sly remarks, but he got that from Kurama all the  
time.  
  
Hiei eyebrows knitted together in  
concentration. The more he thought about Kamen  
and Kurama the more he saw the similarities  
between the two enemies. They both had the same  
sense of humor, they both had an icy coolness  
about them when they fought, and they both had the  
most amazing green eyes. Hiei was startled out of  
his revelry by a screeching he had come to know as  
a pissed Kamen. he thought as he  
ran the rest of the way to her room. He was just  
in time to see Kamen leap to her feet, from her  
prone position on the floor and deliver a vicious  
kick to Mukuro's face.  
  
At first he thought that Kamen had awaken  
from another one of her many nightmares, then he  
noticed that she was too focused to have just  
woken up. Kamen still wore the long shirt, that  
came to just above her knees, she had been wearing  
last night. Mukuro was glaring at Kamen with the  
same amount of venom as Kamen was glaring at her.   
He had heard from the two youkai in the weapon's  
room that Kamen and Mukuro's 'encounters' always  
started out violently, and wondered if he was  
interrupting something.  
  
"Hiei, tell her to get back in bed and stay  
there until she is healed! She is still too weak  
to be running around!" Hiei looked at Mukuro and  
noticed a thin trail of blood that came from the  
corner of her mouth. he thought to himself, but wisely kept  
quiet.  
  
"Hiei, tell her that I can go where I *damn  
well please*!" Hiei saw Kamen sway on her feet,  
but kept his tongue still.  
  
"You are in no condition to be wandering  
around without someone with you!"  
  
"Wandering around! All I want to do is go  
down to the bathhouse and bathe, not make a raid  
on Yomi's stronghold!"  
  
"Your not going by yourself, you'll pass out  
and drown!'  
  
"I don't need a baby-sitter!"  
  
"SHUT UP!" Hiei yelled. Both women blinked  
in surprise at his out burst. Hiei quickly took  
advantage of their stunned silence. He turned and  
addressed Mukuro.  
  
"You don't want her going alone, ne?" Mukuro  
nodded, "Fine, I'll take her."   
  
"Hiei I don't..." Kamen didn't finish before  
Hiei threw her over his right shoulder. He used  
his arm, wrapped around her legs in front of him,   
to hold them still and to keep her shirt from  
riding up her legs. She tried to pull her body  
strait, but he used her long braid to pin her  
front to his back.  
  
"HIEI! Put me down this minute, or it'll be  
the last mistake you ever make!" Kamen screeched  
and hissed like the alleycats Hiei had seen in the  
Ningenkai, as Mukuro laughed at Kamen's  
undignified position. "You're next!" she screamed  
at Mukuro as Hiei left the room. Kamen kicked and  
squirmed, but Hiei was able to kept her relatively  
quiet by yanking on the braided silk in his hand  
when she became too animate.  
  
Every jaw of every youkai they met dropped at  
the sight of Kamen slung over his shoulder. She  
was calling him every evil name he knew of, and  
some he didn't. he thought as  
he gave them a silencing look that sent them  
scurrying into the shadows. He thought he was  
going to make it all the way to the bathhouse with  
out a major incident, but Kamen realized that she  
could bite him from her position.  
  
Her very sharp canines pierced his shirt and  
dug into the flesh of his lower back. He had to  
bite his lip to keep from crying out, as he  
carried her the rest of the way into the  
bathhouse. Hiei was relieved that Kamen's dagger  
was safely back in her room. He put his cargo on  
her feet, and had just enough time to see Kamen's  
malicious smile before she rolled onto her back,  
planted her right foot in his stomach, and sent  
him flying into the water.   
  
Hiei knew that the water was about chest  
deep, so he rolled as he hit the water to keep  
from hitting the bottom. He came to the surface  
and gave her one of the glares he normally gave  
Kurama. he reasoned as he looked at  
Kamen's smiling face.   
  
"You don't know how many guys fall for that  
one," Kamen said as she went around the room  
grabbing towels and bath stuff. He noticed that  
she was holding her one side as she walked around  
the room. his suspicions were confirmed  
when she placed all her supplies next to the  
bathing pond and he could see a small red stain on  
her shirt over her wound.   
  
"Kuso," he muttered under his breath. He  
grabbed one of the little hand towels she had  
brought over and took hold of her wrist.   
  
"Come over here and sit so that I can see  
what you've done to yourself."  
  
"But I..."  
  
"SIT." he growled. Kamen gave a long sigh  
and a cute pout, but sat on the edge of the stone  
pond away. She sat so her legs dangled in the  
water on either side of his hips.  
  
"Your as bad as Yuurei ever was." said with  
mock annoyance.  
  
"Let me see the stitches." She gave him a  
questioning look, but then just shrugged her  
shoulders. Kamen pulled the long shirt over her  
head and threw it behind her. Hiei tried to keep  
his eyes on her stitches and away from the rest of  
her naked body, but he noticed thin silvery marks  
that ran across her stomach and made a mental note  
to ask her about them later. The small stitches  
that he had put there last night where still  
holding, but she had pull them enough to make them  
bleed. He carefully wiped the wound with the hand  
towel.  
  
"You know, some people would consider this an  
invitation," she said, with a suggestive voice.  
  
"But you know better, don't you." Hiei  
stated, matter of factly. Kamen laughed.   
  
"Yes, I know better." She placed her hand on  
his chin and made him look at her. "But I might  
feel compelled to forget." His hand stilled and  
Kamen used hers to push his shoulder hard enough  
to make him take a few steps backward. She stood  
up quickly and made a shallow dive into the water  
behind him.   
  
He turned to watch her surface, make a rude  
face at him, and then turn away from him  
laughing.   
  
================  
  
Kamen made sure that Hiei was watching her,  
before she pulled the face that had always gotten  
her into trouble with Yuurei. When she turned her  
back she heard Hiei give a grunt before he climbed  
out of the bath, she smiled to herself. she concluded. Kamen went under the  
water again and swam the few feet to edge. She  
surfaced quietly, as Yuurei had taught her, and  
searched around for Hiei.  
  
He was over by the pile of towels she had  
brought earlier. He reached into his wet cloak  
and pulled something out. He placed it on the  
towels then freed himself of the sopping wet  
material. Kamen put her chin on her hand at the  
edge of the bath and watched. Hiei had obviously  
decided that his shirt was also too wet to wear  
and took that off as well. Kamen knew that if she  
had her tail right now it would be twitching,  
wondering how much he was going to take off.  
  
He bent over to get one of the bigger towels  
in the stack, but stopped and looked at her. she reasoned  
with silent giggle,   
  
"What?" he asked as he used the towel to dry  
his spiky hair. Kamen gave him one of her  
cat-ate-the-canary smiles.  
  
"Oh, nothing. Just enjoying the show."  
Hiei's towel landed squarely on the top of her  
head. "Does this mean I can't watch?" she asked  
from under the towel.  
  
"Baka, get your bath done before Mukuro comes  
looking to see if you drowned." Kamen pulled the  
mostly wet towel off her head and threw it at him.  
  
"Ok, Ok. Just throw me one of those bars  
next to the towels." Hiei found one of them and  
tossed it to her, and she was sure he threw it too  
far over her head so that she had to jump to catch  
it.  
  
"I'm going to change into something dry since  
I got wet some how." Hiei took one of the other  
dry towels and placed it within reaching distance  
of her. On the top was some sort of metal object  
Kamen couldn't quite make out. Hiei turned to  
leave and Kamen called out to him.  
  
"Hiei, you left something."  
  
"It's for you, to cover the scar on your  
arm." Kamen looked down at the slightly pink scar  
that encircled her arm from the back of her hand  
to her elbow. She knew that Hiei's power had left  
the scar when she used it, but accepted it as part  
of the deal. She had a lot of scars, and one more  
wasn't going to make that much of a difference.   
In fact she hadn't thought much about it at all,  
but Hiei must have.  
  
She was going to ask him why he gave it to  
her, but he had already left. She reached out and  
pick the object up, and saw that it was a expertly  
crafted armband. The metal was warm in her hands,  
and the dragon on it's surface almost had a life  
all it's own. As she held it she realized that  
Hiei had been the one to make it. She could feel  
his imprint on the suface of the metal and in it's  
every molecule. Kamen knew that Hiei couldn't  
have made this beautiful piece in the short amount  
of time they had known each other. She planed to  
ask him more about it later.  
  
She put it back on the towel and continued  
her bath. With practiced ease, Kamen unbraided  
her hair one handed and rolled the small bar in  
her other hand until she had worked enough water  
into it's surface to make it lather. Kamen had  
been surprised to find the bars she had made still  
in their place after all this time. Yuurei had  
shown her how to make the bars out of plants you  
could find almost everywhere in the Makai. It had  
taken her almost a month to learn how to do it  
correctly, because Yuurei could only tell her how  
to make them, he couldn't show her, he didn't have  
hands.  
  
She worked the lather from the bar through  
her hair from the top to the bottom to avoid  
tangling the knee length mass. She rinsed by  
dunking under the water once, and then started on  
the rest of her body. She was very careful to  
avoid her stitches since she couldn't see them  
under her breast. After she was done she put the  
bar on the edge of the bath and leaned back into  
the water to float. She let the warm water work  
out the sore muscles she got from remaining in bed  
so long, as she let her mind drift.  
  
Floating in the water like this reminded her  
of the time her and Yuurei had gone to the hot  
spring where the fire lotus grew. Kamen had been  
working for Mukuro for almost a year when she had  
asked Kamen to spy on Yomi for the first time.   
Kamen had done as she was told, and was very  
successful for her first time spying. Mukuro was  
so pleased she had allowed her a vacation of  
sorts, and Yuurei decided to take her to the hot  
spring to see the fire lotus. Yuurei told her  
that the reason that it was a hot spring at all  
was because of the exotic flower.   
  
When Kamen first laid eyes on the bloom she  
was in love. The leaves that floated under the  
petals were a inky black with deep magenta veins  
running along the center of each leaf. The petals  
were a perfect virgin white, so delicate and soft  
that you could see though each of the petals. The  
lotus got it's name from the small gold fire that  
burned in the center of the white petals. The  
fire was powerful enough to heat the entire spring  
to a delightfully hot temperature.  
  
Kamen told Yuurei that she was going to pick  
the flower and take it back to the capital with  
her. He had laughed and told her to try it.   
Kamen decided to show him that she could have the  
flower if she wanted it and waded out into the  
water. As soon as she entered the water the  
flower disappeared under the surface, and the  
water itself became almost too hot to bare.   
Yuurei laughed at Kamen's startled yelp because of  
the change in water temperature, and the puzzled  
frown she gave at the flower's vanishing act.   
  
He told her that the fire lotus had a natural  
instinct to hide when something entered the water,  
and the only way anyone had been able to get one  
was to drain the spring that the flower was in.   
Kamen had a very low tolerance for being laughed  
at, and she made up her mind to get the fire  
lotus.   
  
She started by wading into the water, and  
then floating on her back. She floated for three  
hours before the lotus came back up to the  
surface. She floated another nine hours until she  
finally came within reaching distance of the  
flower. Yuurei had joked that she was either  
going to turn into a prune and drown or turn into  
a fish and swim away. Yuurei was threatening to  
go in and pull her out of the water, when Kamen  
made her move. She had finally floated into the  
position she wanted, the lotus was in-between her  
elbow and her side. With lightning quick reflexes  
she used to pick locks with booby traps, Kamen  
trapped the flower between her arm and her body.   
  
The bloom pulled and struggled to go  
underwater, but Kamen kept her hold tight.   
Finally the lotus stopped it's moving and just  
floated on the water. Kamen smiled at Yuurei's  
open mouth astonishment of her success. She  
wrapped her fingers around the underwater stem and  
was ready to pull when she noticed the flower was  
bleeding. In it's struggles one of the glossy  
black leaves had broken and the magenta sap leaked  
out into the water, staining the soft petals.   
  
Kamen released the flower and it quickly  
ducked under the water. She waded out of the  
spring and plopped down next to the astonished  
kitsune.  
  
"I thought you wanted the fire lotus." he had  
said.  
  
"It wasn't worth killing it to have it."  
Yuurei rubbed his head along her jaw line.  
  
"Tell you what kid. As soon as I have my  
full body and powers back I promise to give you a  
fire lotus just like that one that you can keep  
forever." Yuurei never lived to keep his promise.  
  
Kamen didn't like the turn her thoughts had  
taken and swam to the edge and got out. She  
toweled her body dry, then wrapped her hair in the  
towel. Kamen looked at the armband that laid on  
the floor in front of her, and thought of Hiei.   
If it had of been anyone else that had given the  
armband to her she would have thought of it as an  
invitation of something more intimate, but she  
knew better. She had been inside Hiei's thoughts  
and she knew that his feelings laid elsewhere.   
  
Kamen picked up the armband and tried it on  
for size. It was a perfect fit. She could feel  
the metal spread it's warmth along her arm, and  
coil it's way down her body. It reminded her of  
when she had used Hiei's power.   
  
she asked herself as  
she traced the dragon pattern lightly. She took  
her hair down and went in search of her brush.   
She found what  
she was looking for and began to furiously brush  
her hair until the roots hurt.  
  
Her arm stilled as a different thought  
entered her mind.   
Kamen's thoughts kept turning in her head. She  
reached for the ties she used in her braids and  
saw something next to it.  
  
Kamen picked up the piece of paper and turned  
it over. Her eyes grew, as she realized that it  
was a photo of Kurama, as Shuuichi, and his human  
mother. She ran her fingers over the image of the  
human woman that was suppose to have been her  
mother. The woman was sitting in a chair with  
Kurama behind her. He had his right hand on her  
shoulder and was smiling in to the camera. They  
looked so happy to be together that Kamen felt a  
pang of regret at not being the recipient of that  
humans love.  
  
Kamen knew that tears were falling, but  
didn't try and stop them. She rarely let herself  
give in to the depression that seemed to distress  
Yuurei so badly, but now he wasn't there. To make  
him happy she tried to hide her sadness behind her  
affection for him. He was the only one she had  
completely trusted, and now he was lost to her.  
  
Kamen was shocked when she felt the picture  
move. She stared intently at the glossy surface  
as she watched Kurama draw a sharp bladed leaf  
across the human's throat. She could her the  
gurgling the woman made as she tried to breath  
through the ruined throat. Blood flowed out of  
the picture and onto her hand. She dropped photo  
and the blood spilled out onto the floor. She  
tried to wipe the blood from her hand, but she  
couldn't.   
  
She could hear cruel mocking laughter from  
all around her. She tried the put her hands over  
her ears to stop the sound, but it got louder and  
louder until she thought she would go insane.  
  
"I'll kill her, you know." Kurama said from  
somewhere in the room. Kamen turned and tried to  
identify a target, but all she saw was inky black  
darkness. "I'll kill them all, just so that you  
can't have them."   
  
Kamen could feel the room start to spin and  
she fell forward. Her head hit the ground with a  
crack.   
  
"I'll kill them all, Kamen, and there's  
nothing you can do about it." he finished his  
words with more laughter. Kamen closed her eyes  
and let the darkness take her.  
  
===================  
  
Ch13 is done! And it didn't turn out half as  
mushy as I thought it would.  
As always comments and replies are looked for,  
appreciated, and highly regarded.  
  
Kat 


	14. fourteen

Disclaimer: None of these people are mine, except  
Kamen. Yuurei, Kurayami, and Utsuro.  
  
Broken Mask  
Chapter 14  
by Kat Aubuchon  
  
"What do ya mean you won't let us in?!"  
Yuusuke yelled at the heavily armored guard at the  
door. The guard had his arms crossed over his  
chest and glared down at Yuusuke from his seven  
foot height. Kurama hoped desperately that  
Yuusuke's negotiation techniques were not going to  
get them into a fight they could ill afford right  
now. If Yuurei was right, time was something they  
had little of.  
  
"No one is allowed into the capital unless it  
has been authorized, and *no one* is allowed to  
see Kamen-san with out Mukuro-sama's direct  
permission." The guard informed them for the third  
time.  
  
"Baka yaro, you better let us in or..."  
  
"There is no need for threats," said the  
small shape in the shadow behind the guard, "I  
will take care of this." Hiei stepped out into  
the sunlight and dismissed the guard. Kurama felt  
his heart beat faster. He wondered if he dared  
hope that things were going to be all right.  
  
Kurama soon noticed Hiei's unusual  
appearance. His hair, even though wet, was  
standing up in thick black spikes, his head band  
was still in place, but it hung low with the  
weight of the water. The softer white hairs at  
his forehead were plastered down and hung into his  
narrowed eyes. Kurama noticed Hiei's pants were  
also wet and clinging to his lean form, but he  
didn't have a shirt on to cover his muscular  
chest.   
  
He was going to ask him just that when he  
also noticed that Hiei was blocking the entrance  
and wasn't going to just let them in. Kurama felt  
his hopes grow weaker, at Hiei's cold glare.   
  
"What do you want here?" he asked coolly.   
Kurama was unable to talk around the thick lump in  
his throat, so Yuusuke answered for them.  
  
"We've come to talk to Kamen." Hiei never  
looked at anyone one, but Yuusuke.   
  
"Why do you want to talk to her, Kurama?"  
Hiei asked without looking at him. Kurama finally  
swallowed the lump in his throat, and answered.   
  
"There are some things that need to be clear  
up between us." was all he could think to say.   
Hiei still refused to look in his direction.   
Kurama felt ice replace the blood in his veins at  
Hiei's rejection.  
Hiei continued to question him.   
  
"Is she who she claims to be? Was she the  
one that was suppose to be Shuuichi?"   
  
"Yes." Kurama watched as Hiei's jaw clenched.   
He wanted to explain, but Hiei wasn't finished.  
  
"Were you the one that attacked her? Are you  
the one that is tearing her mind apart?" Kurama  
gaped at the accusation of being the one to  
torture Kamen. "If you tell me you're not I'll  
believe you, just tell me your not the one." he  
rushed on. Hiei finally turned his eyes to him.   
  
Kurama could see the hope banked behind the  
coldness in the fire demon's eyes. Hiei didn't  
want to believe he had hurt Kamen, and was  
silently pleading that Kurama would tell him he  
didn't do it. Kurama wanted to leap with joy that  
Hiei hadn't abandoned him completely.  
  
"No, I'm not the one after Kamen." Hiei  
hesitated just a moment before nodding.  
  
"We better do this in the main chamber, where  
there is more room for Kamen to blow her top."  
Yuurei said from behind Kuwabara. The kitsune  
walked in front of Hiei and waited for him to let  
him by.  
  
"That is this about?" Hiei asked, with a  
puzzled frown. Yuurei looked over at Kurama, and  
gave a nod of his head. He wanted Kurama to  
explain.  
  
"Hiei, I'd like you to met Yuurei,  
Kamen's...." Hiei grabbed the front of Kurama's  
tunic and pulled him down so that they were eye to  
eye.  
  
"*You're* Yuurei? Kamen's Yuurei, as in  
Koishii?" Hiei demanded in a dazed rush of words.  
  
"Y..yes."   
  
"Fuckin' shit." he said. Hiei released  
Kurama's tunic so that he could stand up again.   
Kurama was nearly blown over by the smile on  
Hiei's face. "This changes everything. There is  
no way in Hell Kamen is going to blame you for the  
attacks if your Yuurei. Come on, she's in the  
bathhouse, you can see her there."   
  
Kurama raised an eyebrow, and reassessed  
Hiei's wet appearance.   
Kurama thought with a grin. Suddenly Yuurei burst  
out laughing.  
  
"So, she got you too?" Yuurei asked Hiei.   
Hiei gave a half smile, and put his hand to his  
wet hair.  
  
"Yeah, I fell for it." Kurama, Yuusuke, and  
Kuwabara were puzzled by the topic of the  
conversation.  
  
"How long was she on her feet before she sent  
you flying?"  
  
"I don't think her feet ever touched the  
ground, but she got a bite in before she did  
that." Hiei said as he showed the four small  
puncture wounds in the middle of the purple bruise  
on his lower back. Yuurei chuckled and wiggled his  
left ear.  
  
"That sounds like my Kamen. When I taught her  
how to swim I pushed her in the water. She  
screeched and swam back to the bank, and instead  
of thanking me for teaching how to swim, she put  
these four little holes in my ear. I thought she  
was going to tear me apart. She's got one hell of  
a temper and a stubborn streak as big as the  
Makai." They both chuckled at similar memories.  
  
"How did you know that Yuurei was Kurama?"  
Kuwabara asked. Hiei put his annoyed mask back on  
and didn't bother looking at Kuwabara.  
  
"Idiot, any fool could see that they're the  
same person."  
  
"I couldn't."  
  
"Your just a better fool than the average."  
Kuwabara made a few threatening steps to the  
passive Hiei, but was stopped by Yuusuke.  
  
"Would you two stop it. Let's go see Kamen  
before something else happens."  
  
Kurama was pleased to see that Yuurei and  
Hiei were getting alone so well. he thought. As they walked down  
the hall Hiei and Kuwabara were alternately asking  
Yuurei questions about Kamen's younger years. I  
feel like I'm the outsider in the 'We Love Kamen'  
fan club. Kurama really didn't mind as long as  
he was able to see for himself why they were so  
drawn to her. Kurama suddenly stopped in the  
middle of the hall. He could sense someone ahead.   
They didn't even bother to try and hide their  
presence, and soon the others felt it too.  
  
"Shit, it's Utsuro." Yuurei murmured before  
braking into a run. The rest of them followed  
close at his heels knowing that if there was  
someone ahead of them Yuurei wouldn't be unable to  
do anything about it. They came to the bathhouse  
door and cautiously entered. Hiei was in the  
front since he knew the layout better than anyone.   
He gathered his power around his arm to make the  
deadly black blade that was infinity more powerful  
than his plain metal one upstairs.  
  
The intruder was easily found, since he was  
floating in plain sight over the stone pond. He  
looked to be a young man, but in the Makai that  
means little. His face was boyish and soft with  
large liquid blue-green eyes and long curved  
sea-green lashes. His silky short hair was swept  
back from his face and was the same soft sea-green  
as his lashes. He had long delicate elf-like ears  
that laid out away from his head. He was floating  
in a very relaxed position over the pond, with his  
arms crossed and one ankle over the other. He  
looked all the world like he was leaning against a  
door frame waiting for them. His gauzy blue-green  
clothes were a few shades lighter than his eyes.   
The delicate material floated around him on  
invisible, unfelt currents of air.   
  
Kurama spared a look around the bathhouse.   
There were no others around, and no sign of Kamen.   
The only clue was a bloody towel on the floor.   
The only way in or out of the room was the door,  
that they were now blocking.  
  
"Ah, Yuurei. You've finally shown your tails.   
I was starting to wonder if anyone was going to  
come looking for the little bitch." Kurama could  
hear Yuurei growl deep in his throat, as the  
hackles on his back rose. The others stood ready  
to defend, or attack if necessary.  
  
"Where is Kamen?" the kitsune hissed between  
tightly clenched teeth.  
  
"Oh, I suppose that she's off somewhere have  
one pleasant dream, or another. The little thing  
nearly cracked her skull on the floor when she  
passed out. I imagine she won't wake up for quite  
some time." Utsuro said as he made a show of  
examining his nails, a cruelly malicious look of  
glee on his lovely face.  
  
"Where is she, Utsuro? Or does Kurayami not  
tell his lapdogs his plans?" The pretty young man  
lost his relaxed pose, as the water below him  
started to bubble and churn. The nails he was so  
carefully examining were pressed tightly into his  
palms, drawing blood.  
  
"The little tramp is warming his bed by now.   
I don't know what he sees in that pathetic excuse  
for a youko. She positively ugly with those  
scars, and that hair is way too long to be  
fashionable. She doesn't even act like a female.   
Her skin is probably rough and she has calluses on  
her hands... and knees." He said the last part  
with a evil grin as his composure was recovered,  
"Quite frankly she's used and damaged goods, way  
beneath Kurayami-sama's caliber. She isn't even a  
real A-class youkai."  
  
Kurama never saw Hiei move, but he was behind  
the mocking youkai with his black blade raised  
ready to strike. With a small movement of his  
hand, Utsuro sent Hiei crashing into the wall  
behind him. The force of Hiei's impact made a  
small crater in the stone wall. Blood came to his  
mouth and rolled down his chin before he fell to  
the floor on his hands and knees. Kurama wasted  
no time in coming to Hiei's side. He helped the  
smaller youkai to his feet, and had to restrain  
him from attacking Utsuro again.  
  
"You better keep your pet on a tighter leash,  
youko, or I might have to kill him." Utsuro was  
back in a position of power and Kurama saw him  
relax once more.  
  
"If your not here to kill us, why are you  
here?" Utsuro looked amazed that Kuwabara could  
even speak. He recovered quickly and looked at  
the tall human.  
  
"Now I know who is the brains of this troop,"   
Kurama heard Hiei growl and Utsuro continued, "No,  
I'm not here to kill you. I've come with an  
invitation from Kurayami-sama," Utsuro raised his  
arms and green energy tentacles came from the pond  
and wrapped around each of them, including Yuurei,  
"Kurayami-sama cordially invites you to the  
braking of his newest toy, Kamen," each of them  
were being pulled toward the water. The once  
clear pond was now a cloudy sea-green.   
  
Kurama felt icy cold pain as he touched the  
foamy water. The others were experiencing the  
same sensation, if there hisses of pain gave any  
indication. Kurama tried to keep his head above  
the water, and he watched as each of his friends  
disappeared below.   
  
"What's the matter, Kurama? Don't you like  
being the center of attention?," Utsuro gave a  
dainty laugh, "You are the main character in this  
comedy, or should I say tragedy," the youkai  
shrugged his delicate shoulders, "It doesn't  
really matter. You should be honored. If it  
wasn't for you, none of this could have been  
possible." Kurama gave one last effort to free  
himself, before he too was pulled into the  
unknown.  
  
=====================  
  
Well, another chapter is none. This one was a  
real pain in the ###, because it got deleted  
twice! I thought I was going to pull all my hair  
out. I have to go take my Applied Abstract Algebra  
Mid-term now.  
Anyway comments and replies are welcome, and  
looked for.  
  
Kat 


	15. fifteen

Disclaimer: I have nothing to do with these  
people!   
2nd Disclaimer: Sometimes I lie. Kamen, Yuurei,  
Kurayami, and Utsuro are my demented  
creations.  
3rd Disclaimer: This is my first bad guy so I  
don't know if I got him right or not.   
This is just the way he seemed to evolve.  
  
  
Broken Mask  
Chapter 15  
by Kat Aubuchon  
  
Kurayami was laying on his side, so close to  
Kamen that he could feel her heat through his  
clothes. It helped that Kamen herself wore  
nothing at all. His left elbow was propping him  
up so that he had a better look at his sleeping,  
little girl. He reached his hand out and stroked  
her soft hair from the top of her head, down to  
her slender waist, letting the silken strands  
slide through his fingers. He had let her hair  
dry naturally, so that it would show its gentle  
waves. He remembered, as a very young child,  
Kamen's hair had made beautiful soft curls. Those  
curls had marked her as different in the village  
because all youko had strait hair. She had always  
asked him to braid it for her to hide the curls  
from others. He used to be the only one that was  
allowed to see those curls, to touch them, but she  
had giving that pleasure to others since then.  
  
Kurayami picked up a section of her golden  
hair and spread the strands in between his  
fingers, looking for any sign of the red she was  
born with. He had been pleasantly surprised that  
Kamen was the image of her mother, with tilted  
soft green eyes and coppery red hair. The color  
of her hair wasn't uncommon, but the eye color was  
an oddity. Most youko had eyes that ranged from  
dark brown to light gold, but not green. Those  
eyes had darken as she got older, and by the time  
she was two, and made up her mind that she wasn't  
going to look youko anymore, her eyes were the  
deep rich green they were now.   
  
In the time that he had been taking care of  
the soulless body and the child it had carried,  
Kurayami had felt like Kamen was his child. He  
cared for the body, and took note of Kamen's  
growth and movements. He would weave images of  
how his precious child was conceived, so that he  
could tell if she was awake or asleep in her  
mother's womb. He had anxiously awaited her birth  
as any good father would. When she was born, and  
he was able to get rid of the dead weight Kamen  
had been attached to, he knew that she was ment to  
be his, only his. When she opened her lovely  
green eyes for the first time, he was the only one  
she saw.  
  
He wished that he could have looked into  
those eyes, as he took the place of Yomi in her  
nightmares. The musky smell of the pleasure he  
took from her was still heavy in the room, making  
him want her again. He didn't give in to his  
desires, however. He knew that she needed this  
rest for the things that were to come. He had had  
her in this way before, coming in her dreams,  
taking the place of one person or another. For a  
time when Kamen had been with Reizen, he had  
amused himself with Utsuro because it had been too  
difficult for him to visit her. Kurayami now  
regretted taking the boy as a lover. Utsuro was  
too clinging, easily manipulated, and had no will  
of his own, unlike his little girl of spirit and  
fire. The boy was one of the most powerful youkai  
in the Makai, but he was content to play the fool  
for the pleasure and the oblivion that Kurayami's  
illusions could give him.  
  
Kurayami pushed Kamen's hair from her back  
and traced light circles around the many bites and  
bruises he had left in his excitement. It amazed  
him that she was still so soft and delicate after  
all she had been through. Her skin was still  
smooth and pale, with only a touch of the Makai  
harsh sun seen on the expanse of skin in fount of  
him. Kamen's softness was different than that of  
the vain Utsuro. She had coiled violence and  
strength beneath the surface, waiting for the  
right one to unleash it, waiting for him. Utsuro  
was soft in body, mind, and soul. He was petty  
and two dimensional, lifeless. Kurayami much  
preferred his raw silk little girl to the flashy  
polished boy.  
  
The only exception to her flawless beauty  
were the gnarled scars on her lower back. With a  
light caress, Kurayami smoothed the hair on  
Kamen's head where her furred ears should have  
been, and then the spot on her backside where her  
tail would have sprouted. Kamen squirmed and  
moaned at his touch, but he could not tell if it  
was in remembered pain or pleasure. Kurayami was  
surprised that she could even feel any sensation  
through the heavy scaring. Yomi was very good at  
knowing where to strike to give the most pain, and  
where to stroke to give the most pleasure. In his  
attempts to make Kamen give in to him he had  
attacked one the most sensitive spots a youko had,  
in both ways.   
  
Kamen shifted in her sleep raising her right  
arm from her side to place it next to her face.   
She gave a contented sigh and fell into a deeper  
sleep. Kurayami could now see the new armband she  
had received. He had been in the shadows of the  
room waiting for his chance to take Kamen with him  
when he saw Hiei give it to his little girl.   
Intense jealously had hit him when he thought  
about his Kamen giving that forbidden child  
something that was his. He wanted the youkai dead  
for marking what was his.  
  
It had been bad enough that she ran out on  
him with that damn youko. That he could forgive,  
because she had still been too young to understand  
that he was the only thing she needed. He would  
have even let her keep her pet, if Yuurei hadn't  
promised to be with her for as long as he was  
able. For a youko, that was as close to a  
marriage proposal as you could get. That was when  
he knew that he needed to permanently separate  
them, and show his little girl that he was the  
only one that she could trust and love.  
  
Kamen made a pained yelp and Kurayami  
realized that he was holding her hip too tightly.   
He pulled his hand away and saw a new bruise  
coloring her pale skin. He leaned over her and  
kissed the worse of the bites he had given her on  
the right side of her neck, and he wondered  
briefly if he should cover it with a illusion or  
let her explain it way, like she did all the other  
times. He never made up his mind before Utsuro  
entered the room.  
  
Kurayami gave the boy a hard glare for coming  
in unannounced, as he pulled a sheet over Kamen's  
bare back. The boy almost looked shamed, but  
Kurayami was able to see his angered face before  
he bowed his head. He knew that he needed to  
pacify the boy for a little while longer until  
Kamen came into her full power. Once that  
happened he wouldn't need him anymore. He smiled  
to himself, and got out of the bed.  
  
"What news do you bring me, Utsuro?" he  
asked, as he made his way to the vanity table and  
mirror. Every time he looked into the mirror he  
was surprised by the face that looked back at him.   
The face he wore now was only a little older than  
the girl asleep in the bed behind him.  
  
"All is as you wanted it. They are all in  
the caves, unharmed, but unconscious. The mirrors  
are all in place and they have no idea where they  
are." Kurayami noticed, from the mirror, that  
Utsuro gave his little girl a hateful glare. It  
was obvious to Kurayami that he needed to replace  
Utsuro as soon as possible. He touched the mirror  
in fount of him and willed it to show him the  
caves. After looking from cavern to cavern he was  
finally able to find the participants in the play  
that he was now directing. He steepled his  
fingers under his chin and grinned.   
  
"Come, Utsuro. Let's greet my new guests,  
and show them the roles they will play."   
  
=================  
Sorry, about the very short chapter, but this is  
where it wanted to end. I'd like to know if  
Kurayami is enough of a villain, or does he need  
more....  
Comments and replies are looked for and  
recommended for my fragile mind.   
  
Kat 


	16. sixteen

Disclaimer: I am going totally insane, because of  
these disclaimers, but... None of these people  
were originally mine, but now that I control  
the universe they are all my slaves. Kamen,  
Yuurei, Kurayami, and Utsuro are my spawn, so  
please ignore their loose grip on reality.  
  
Broken Mask  
Chapter 16  
by Kat Aubuchon; AKA Ruler of  
the Universe.  
  
Hiei awakened to find that his mouth was full  
of dirt, his arm was asleep beneath him, and his  
brain pounding hard behind his eyes. I never use  
to wake up like this before I hooked up with this  
crew, he thought painfully. He moved to get up,  
but only got to his hands and knees before he was  
hit with a wall of dizziness and nausea. He  
forced the bitter taste of bile back down his  
throat and concentrated on making the room stop  
spinning.  
  
"Don't open your eyes until your head stops  
spinning, or you'll pass out again." Hiei could  
barely hear Yuurei through the drumming in his  
ears, but he did as the kitsune said. While  
waiting for the world he knew to be put back on  
end, Hiei tried to determine where he was. He  
could tell by the cold, damp, musty air and the  
echoing of Yuurei's voice that they where in some  
kind of cave or cavern. By the damp and slick  
stones beneath his hands, he determined that they  
must be close to a underground water source.  
  
After he was reasonably sure that he wasn't  
going to die if he moved, Hiei slowly opened his  
eyes and the throbbing behind his eyes  
intensified. He pulled his head up to confirm  
with his eyes what his other senses had told him.   
Sure enough they were in a cave with a shallow  
pool running along one of the walls Hiei could  
see. The walls he could see were high and steep  
with some sort of yellow glowing slim mold that  
allowed him to see dimly in the cavern. The  
light, however was not strong enough for him to be  
able to see the ceiling, but he knew by the echoes  
that it couldn't be very high up above where he  
could see.  
  
Hiei no longer felt dizzy, but his stomach  
was telling him that he was turning in circles.   
He took a shallow breath and swallowed again. He  
refused to get sick, he was not going to let  
himself be sick. Hiei remembered the last time he  
felt like this. It seemed like a lifetime ago  
that he woke up in that cell, but he recognized  
the feeling as being the same.  
  
"The dimensional shift sickness will past  
soon. Just don't rush it." Yuurei advised him.  
Hiei decided to be honest.  
  
"I feel like shit." He finally pulled himself  
into a sitting position and folded his hands in  
his lap.  
  
"You should. Teleporting through dimensions  
isn't a trivial thing. Your body gets literally  
turned inside out, pulled apart, and then forced  
back together." The sickness that was starting to  
pass, came back at Yuurei's oh so pleasant  
described of what was done to them.  
  
"Thank you for sharing," Hiei said dryly,  
"Why the fuck aren't you sick?"  
  
"No body to turn inside out, baka," the  
kitsune said smugly. Hiei had the urge to  
strangle Yuurei's furry neck when they heard a  
moan. Yuurei trotted over to where the moan had  
come from, while Hiei tried to get to his feet.   
He was able to now recognize the person that had  
awaken as Kurama. He walked shakily over to where  
the kitsune had disappeared into where the dim  
light could not reach. As he got closer he could  
hear that Kurama wasn't as successful in fighting  
his churning stomach as he was.  
  
Hiei decided to make a small detour to the  
pool. He knelt beside the still water and reached  
behind his head and unknotted the sash he used to  
cover his Jagan. He closed his natural eyes and  
let the third eye open, but was unable to see  
beyond where his other eyes could. He ignored  
that for now and folded the sash until is was a  
thick, neatly folded square. He dipped it in the  
cold water and squeezed it enough so that it  
wouldn't drip as he carried it.  
  
He made his way over to Kurama and was bearly  
able to keep his stomach from rolling at the  
smell. Kurama was on his hands and knees  
trembling. Hiei figured that Kurama must have  
emptied the entire contents of his stomach now,  
but was unable to move away. Hiei placed a hand  
underneath his friend's arm and used what strength  
he had recovered to pull him away from the mess.  
  
There was a large stalagmite formation not  
too far away, so he helped his sick companion to  
them and lend him against one. Hiei took his wet  
sash and wiped Kurama's nose and mouth. Hiei  
thought for a moment that Kurama was going to  
protest, but he just closed his green eyes and let  
him do as he wished. Somehow Kurama had managed  
to miss his hair completely, so Hiei only had to  
bathe the sweat from his face and neck. Kurama  
captured Hiei's hand and looked into concerned  
warm, red eyes.  
  
"I think I'll be all right now Hiei," Kurama  
said as he held on to Hiei's hand longer than he  
really had to. Hiei pulled his hand away, but was  
unable to look away from the bottomless green  
eyes.  
  
"Hey, I think this one is waking up," Yuurei  
yelled from across the room. The spell that  
Kurama had created with his touch lost it's hold  
and the two of them blinked as if they had just  
awakened from a dream they wished they could  
remember.  
  
"We better go check on Yuusuke and Kuwabara,"  
Kurama suggested as he came to his feet. He  
swayed and Hiei's hand was immediately on his  
elbow to steady him.  
  
"You feeling all right?" Kurama gave Hiei one  
of his enigmatic smiles, that he hated.  
  
"I told you I'm find, mother hen." Hiei gave  
a snort and turned on his heel away from Kurama.  
"Thank you." Hiei stopped, but didn't turn around.   
He gave a short nod and continued on.  
  
The two of them found Yuusuke in a similar  
state of dizziness and nausea as they were, but  
much less sever.   
Hiei thought. Yuusuke was able to get to his feet  
without and assistance.  
  
"I found your human, but he doesn't look like  
he's going to wake up," Yuurei informed them. A  
look of concern went across Yuusuke's face. The  
three of them quickly made their way to where  
Kuwabara laid. Hiei noticed that he was laying  
very still and breathing shallow. Yuusuke went to  
his knees beside his long time friend and placed  
an ear to his chest. Yuusuke listened for a  
moment, as Hiei and Kurama waited. With a curse  
Yuusuke hit Kuwabara upside his head with his  
fist.  
  
"Wake up, baka!" Kuwabara made a few snoring  
snorting noises and then blinked his eyes open.   
He looked at each of them, stretched and yawned.  
  
"What's up?" Kuwabara asked puzzled. Kurama  
actually laughed, while Hiei, Yuusuke, and Yuurei  
gave identical grunts of annoyance.  
  
"What is this guy?" Yuurei asked, staring at  
Kuwabara's dumbfounded look.  
  
"If you can figure it out, tell us." Yuusuke  
said shaking his head. "Come on sleeping beauty,  
let's figure out where we are."  
  
"Well, I can help some there." Yuurei said as  
he walked over to the wall of the cave. He placed  
his paw on the stone and there was a bright sickly  
green spark the shot out from where he 'touched'  
it. "This is where Kurayami kept me after he  
killed me."  
  
"Wait, hold on." Hiei walked out in front of  
the others and asked no one in particular, "Will  
someone please tell me what exactly is going on?"  
There was a chuckle from behind them and the five  
of them turned to see Utsuro and a youko that only  
Yuurei had met before.  
  
"I'd be happy to tell you anything you wish,  
my dear friend, but first let me introduce myself.   
My name, for now, is Kurayami. Yuurei knows me.   
I am Kamen's guardian." Hiei heard Yuurei growl,  
and the others take up defensive postures like the  
one he now had. Hiei kept his eyes on this new  
threat and assessed him.   
  
This youko, that called himself Kurayami, was  
average youko height, which made him as tall as  
Kurama's youko form. He had strait hair down to  
the middle of his back, like most youko, but what  
was unusual about it was that it was black. Hiei  
knew that some youko had black hair, but all the  
ones he knew of were warriors, and this one was  
dressed as a thief.   
  
Hiei looked carefully at the youko's hair and  
realized that his hair wasn't just black, it was  
like the absence of matter. There was no shine,  
no light reflected on the surface, it was like a  
void, the opposite of light. His eyes were the  
same black, with no way of discerning a pupil in  
the black iris. He was of a stronger build than  
Kurama, he wore a small leather pouch around his  
neck.  
  
Kurayami was standing so that Utsuro was in  
between them and him. The green haired boy was  
crouched on the ground in front of his master like  
a devoted dog. Hiei would have laughed at the  
subservient place Utsuro had taken if he thought  
for a moment that that youkai couldn't send him  
through a wall.  
  
"You are the last person Kamen needs as a  
guardian," Yuurei said in a deadly cold voice that  
even made Hiei flinch. "Where is she?" Kurayami  
clicked his tongue and shook his head.  
  
"Yuurei, Yuurei, Yuurei... I can't tell a  
story from the end to the beginning it would be  
rude." Kurayami made a wave of his hand and the  
walls began to glow with an unseen light source.   
When the cavern was as bright as daylight, he  
stretched out his arm over the pool that was  
behind him.  
  
"There once was a youko named Kurama," from  
the wall opposite the pool a silver kitsune, that  
looked exactly like Yuurei, but with one less  
tail, came running from within the wall. Like  
some movie, they watched the kitsune run like his  
life depended on it. "Then one day this youko got  
careless." A shot rang out and echoed off the  
walls. Both Kurama and Yuurei jerked at the  
sound.  
  
"The youko didn't want to die, so he flung  
his soul to the first safe haven he could find,"  
they could see an essence of silver leave the  
prone body and fly like a comet. "I happened to  
be in the area when I heard the shot, and saw the  
youko throw his soul." From the trees near the  
body Kurayami appeared, checked the body, then  
followed the soul.  
  
"I was curious, I must admit. I couldn't  
think where this youko thought he was going so I  
followed him, and from my hiding place, this is  
what I saw." The scene changed and now they could  
see a black haired woman walking down a path. The  
comet like soul of the youko hit the woman, with  
no force. She placed her hand over her heart and  
stopped. A puzzled look came over her face, and  
she slid her hand down her chest to rest it on her  
belly. After a few moments something was pushed  
out from the women's stomach. The woman gave a  
startled gasp and crossed her arms over her  
middle. A look of fear crossed her face. She  
then quickly walked on, leaving a small glowing  
object behind her.  
  
"I knew that the youko's soul was still in  
the human, but I had to know what had been pushed  
out of the woman." The Kurayami in the vision  
stepped out of the bushes and walked over to the  
glowing object. Now they could see that the  
object was small, only the size of Kurayami's  
palm, and glowed with gold, black, and silver  
light. He picked up the glowing orb, and gave a  
puzzled frown.  
  
"I was very surprised at the raw power and  
emotion that the little human soul possessed, but  
I also knew that it couldn't survive outside a  
body like this." The image showed Kurayami  
placing the orb inside of his shirt. The black  
haired youko fell to his knees as he was hit from  
behind be a silver flash.  
  
"It seems that the youko, out of some kind of  
feeling of remorse, probably his first, had sent a  
portion of his soul to protect this little human  
soul. Fortunately he was so weak and disoriented  
that it was easy to get away with my prize." The  
scene shifted again and they were in a small youko  
village. Kurayami walked into the village and the  
villagers around him bent their heads down in  
respect for his rank. He ignored them and went  
into his own hut. Once inside he pulled the orb  
from his shirt and looked at it. It wasn't  
glowing quite as brightly as it had before.  
  
"I knew that it was fading, losing it's  
battle to survive, but it was mine and I wasn't  
going to let it be taken away from be. That is  
when fate showed it's hand." There was a call at  
the door, Kurayami quickly placed the glowing orb  
in a fancy jeweled box, and bid them to enter. A  
frantic youko entered, bowed and begged for him to  
follow. Kurayami took one last look at the box  
and left with the youko.  
  
"I can't tell you how happy I was to find out  
they wanted me to look at a youko woman that had  
stupidly lost her soul to a soul-eater, and that  
she carried a soulless child within her. I made  
up some kind of story and got possession of the  
body." In the image they could see Kurayami place  
the copper haired youko woman on a blanket on the  
floor of his residence. He quickly retrieved the  
box and opened next to the youko. He removed the  
orb and placed it on her stomach, when nothing  
happened he physically pushed the orb into her.   
Once it was inside the body, it glowed with a  
golden light and arcs of black and silver  
electricity shot from it. As quickly as the power  
surge happened it stopped,  
  
"And that, my little friend, is how I got my  
little girl."  
  
"Kamen never was, and never will be your  
prize, your gift, or your little girl." Yuurei  
informed him with a deadly calm voice, Kurayami  
laughed.  
  
"That's where you wrong, kitsune. Kamen is  
very much mine." Kurayami made another gesture  
with his hand and a smooth place on the wall  
glowed and then became clear. Through this  
opening they could see a large room with a large  
bed in the center. In the middle of that bed was  
a figure that was unmistakable with her gold hair  
spilling off the side of the bed. The white sheet  
was wrapped loosely around her and her long legs  
were sticking out from between the folds of the  
sheet. She was laying on her side, facing toward  
them, her left arm made a pillow for her head and  
her right arm was laid across her middle. The  
gray and black armband was clearly visible on the  
white sheets.  
  
Suddenly her eyes opened to revile unfocused  
green eyes, she slowly raised herself up on her  
left arm and let the sheet fall into her lap. She  
gave a puzzled frown and pushed her hair off her  
right shoulder. On her pale skin, where her  
right shoulder met her neck, was a very clear bite  
mark with a deep purple bruise around it. She  
traced her fingers over the area and a very  
haunted look replaced the puzzlement on her face.   
The image vanished and Kurayami gave a contented  
sigh.  
  
"Well, you must excuse me. Kamen is going to  
need a friendly face and a shoulder to cry on, so  
if you'll so kind as to play amongst yourselves,  
I'll be going." Kurayami and Utsuro melted into  
the darkness leaving the five of them to stare  
into the darkness.  
  
=================  
Well, here's another one. Read it or not, it's up  
to you.  
  
Kat 


	17. seventeen

Disclaimer: I have written sixteen of these and I  
refuse to write another one. If you really want  
to read a disclaimer, please go to one of the  
previous sixteen chapters. Thank you.  
  
  
Broken Mask  
Chapter 17  
by Kat Aubuchon  
  
  
  
Kamen could feel reality trying to intrude in  
her much needed, and dreamless sleep. She did  
have dreamless nights often, and she was going to  
hold on to this one for as long as she could. She  
tried unsuccessfully to hid in the back of her  
mind and forget the real world was waiting out  
there for her. After about ten minutes, she  
cursed the deity that made internal clocks, and  
rolled over from her stomach to her side. She  
kicked her legs until they were free of the sheet,  
curled her left arm under her head, and drifted in  
a world of half sleep for a few more minutes.   
  
Her overactive mind was not cooperating with  
her overtired body, and it started to annoy her.   
the  
part of her that wanted to continue sleeping  
yelled to the part that wanted to get up. Images  
of a very nice looking, short, dark haired youkai,  
with the cutest fangs, and warm red eyes came to  
her mind.   
  
Kamen gave in to the fact that she was now  
awake, and let the barrier she'd put up in her  
sleep come down. She was hit immediately by the  
forgotten dream. Hands, teeth, claws, pain,  
pleasure. One on the other, one in the other, one  
stopping, the other starting. Too real, too  
close, too much.  
  
Her eyes flew open, and she desperately tried  
to pull away from the dream. She could still feel  
the pain, she could feel the soreness, feel the  
stinging teeth, smell the pleasure. She pushed  
herself up and gave herself a mental shake. she kept repeating in her head,  
trying to convince herself. The pain on her neck  
and along her back told her she was a liar. With  
a trembling hand she touched the spot on her neck,  
and felt the jagged edge of a swollen wound. This  
wasn't the first time she had awaken from a dream  
so real it had left marks on her, and she feared  
it would not be the last.   
  
She wanted to scream, to get angry, to kill  
something. She wanted to forget, to hide, to curl  
up and die, or worse cry. Crying only showed  
weakness. Tears were something she could not  
afford. Giving in was not an option.  
  
Kamen didn't want to dwell too long on the  
disturbing dream, so she addressed a new concern.  
Where was she? She knew she wasn't in Mukuro's  
capital, and she couldn't remember being moved.  
From her position on the bed, she could see the  
entire room. Being cut from solid stone, the room  
was irregularly shaped, but huge. At the widest  
part it was ten meters across, and the ceiling was  
five or six meters above her head. There was a  
soft unnatural light coming from evenly spaced  
three holes in the ceiling. The only entrance was  
a set of wooden double doors to her right. The  
strangest feature of the room was the mirrors on  
the walls. She counted twelve, all different  
sizes and in different positions in the room.   
Only one was clearly used as a mirror, and that  
one was attached to a vanity.  
  
Kamen took the top sheet she had been using  
as a cover and ripped it in half to make it easier  
to wrap around herself. When she was reasonably  
sure she was covered, Kamen crawled out of the bed  
and went to one of the walls. She could recognize  
the rough stone as Jade Rock. A very hard, white  
stone, that had veins of jade colored stone  
running through it. It could only be found in the  
deepest parts of caves, with an underground water  
source.  
  
She ran her fingers down one of those deep  
green veins and remembered someone telling her  
that it was the same color as her eyes. Kamen  
leaned so that her face was against the cool  
stone, and closed her eyes. She had been two  
years old when she first saw this stone. It was a  
time before she stopped looking youko, and before  
the nightmares started. Kurayami had taken her on  
another one of his field trips. That time they  
had been going to a set of caves far from the  
village, in a mountain range that was known to  
have volcanic eruptions from time to time.  
  
Kamen could remember how hot the caves had  
been, and how tired she was. Her short little  
legs had a hard time keeping up with Kurayami's  
longer stride, but she was determined to not  
complain. She knew that he was disappointed in  
her inability to use her 'powers', and she didn't  
want to make him mad by complaining. When they  
had finally stopped, Kamen all but collapsed.   
  
She remembered hearing running water and  
thinking that she would die if she didn't get a  
drink. Using her youko sense of smell and hearing  
she quickly found the water and drank the  
surprisingly cold water until she thought she'd  
burst. She sat back on her heels and looked  
around. Kurayami was sitting on a natural shelf  
in the wall of the cave, wiping the sweat from his  
brow. Without really thinking about it she took  
off her top shirt, leaving her in her sleeveless  
undershirt, and plunged it in the water. With the  
water running down her arm and soaking her  
undershirt, Kamen ran over to where the only adult  
she knew sat.  
  
Kurayami had looked at her strangely, and  
didn't take the shirt. Kamen remembered making a  
exasperated sigh and crawling on to the stone  
shelf beside him. She wiped his face, neck, and  
arms with the wet shirt, and giggled at his  
hissing intake of breath, because of the chill of  
the water. He had grabbed her wrist and asked her  
why she was bathing him.  
  
"Because, your my father," she had answered.   
He had sat there, totally still. Then his face  
did something she never saw it do before, it  
smiled. She had smiled back at him, feeling very  
pleased with herself that she had made him happy.   
Then he shook his head, and told her that he  
wasn't her father, and that she shouldn't call him  
that.  
  
Kamen had been very puzzled by this. No one  
had ever told her that Kurayami wasn't her father,  
and she had never been allowed to call him  
anything other than Kurayami. She didn't know  
that he truly wasn't her father. He had been the  
only one to take care of her, braid her ugly curly  
hair, and put her to bed at night.  
  
"You can call me, Niichan, when we are  
alone." She had been so happy that she threw  
herself at him, and knocked them both tumbling.   
They had rolled on the floor of the cave for a few  
minutes, laughing. After they finally stopped  
Kurayami showed her the Jade Stone, and told her  
that it would always remind him of her, and that  
when she was older, he would build her a bedroom  
made out of the stone. Kamen smiled at the  
memories turning behind her closed eyes.  
  
"I sincerely hope that smile is for me." She  
heard the low baritone voice she remembered from  
her childhood, the voice she learned from,  
listened to when he wasn't watching her. Kamen  
opened her eyes and saw him standing by the bed.   
She took a few slow steps toward him, wondering if  
he was still mad at her for leaving him to travel  
with Yuurei. When he opened his arms to her she  
knew that all had been forgiven.  
  
"Kurayami..." she said as she flew into those  
open arms. She buried her face into the dark  
curtain of his hair and wrapped her arms around  
his neck, totally unmindful of the fact that her  
sheet had fell down to her waist. He wrapped his  
own arms around her and lifted her off the floor.   
  
"I thought I told you to call be Niichan," he  
said next to her ear, making her shiver. She  
could feel his voice vibrate in his chest, and  
loved it. She used to spend hours listening to  
Yuurei's stories so that she could lie in his back  
and feel the vibrations through his soft fur. She  
didn't trust anyone but Kurayami and Yuurei to get  
that close. Kurayami rubbed her back through her  
hair, and tighten his hold to a almost painful  
embrace before he let her slide back down to the  
floor. He held her at arm's length and looked her  
up and down.  
  
"Look at you, you ungrateful wench! I give  
you this beautiful room, with this beautiful bed,  
and what do you? You rip the sheets up and go lay  
on the wall." Kamen slapped his hands away and  
pulled her covering back up.  
  
"Well, maybe... just maybe... if you hadn't  
have left me with nothing to wear maybe I wouldn't  
have had to go to such lengths to clothe myself."   
She tapped her bare foot on the floor, crossed her  
arms over her chest, and gave her best angry  
glare. Kurayami placed his hands over his heart  
and had a stricken look on his face.  
  
"Little one, you wound me! To think that I  
would let you go undressed is unthinkable! Did  
you bother to look in the chest at the head of the  
bed for clothes?" Kamen stuck her tongue out at  
him and walked over to the mentioned chest. She  
knelt in front of it and placed her hands on the  
top. With light fingers she tapped at the wooden  
surface and listened to the echo. She ran her  
fingers around the lip of the lid, and swiftly  
pulled her hands back.  
  
"Spring loaded poison darts, with a razor lip  
and backward hinges. I'm impressed Niichan."  
Kamen got on the bed behind the chest, and  
performed the same ritual with the back of the  
chest. When she was satisfied she motioned for  
Kurayami to come over.  
  
"Are you going to give me the key?" she  
asked. At his grinning reply, she grabbed his  
tunic and pulled his head down to her. She  
reached her hand into his hair, where she knew all  
thieves kept there picks and pulled one out. She  
let go of him and placed the pick in the lock and  
started to open it, "Mind if I borrow this?" she  
said as the lock popped and the lid of the chest  
came open. "Thanks." she tossed the pick back to  
its owner. After the first few items she pulled  
out, looked at, appraised, and then threw over her  
shoulder, she started to laugh.  
  
"What are you trying to do Niichan? Build a  
harem," she placed a particularly skimpy outfit  
against herself and wrinkled her nose in disgust,  
"Even Yomi lets his bed slaves wear more." The  
garment in question went flying over her head, and  
she continued to look through the chest. Kurayami  
just shrugged his shoulders and started to collect  
the scattered clothes.  
  
"They're not many women around here that are  
your size, little one. You can't be picky." Kamen  
stopped and looked at him.  
  
"Where are my old clothes, my headpiece, and  
dagger? And while I'm at it, how did I get here?"   
Kurayami sat on the bed next to her, and placed a  
comforting hand on her knee.  
  
"I had heard that you were at Mukuro's and I  
came to see you. When I got there you had been  
hurt and in the coma for three days. No one there  
would listen to me, about the way you heal, or  
about your nightmares, until you had your first  
attack. Then you had this last one." Kamen  
grabbed the wrist of the hand on her knee, and her  
blood went cold thinking that she might have hurt  
Hiei again.  
  
"I... I didn't attack anyone, did I?"  
  
"No, but you passed out and hit your head  
hard enough to knock you cold for a good long  
time," the grip he had on her knee tightened,  
"That incompetent fire spirit should have never  
left you alone. What if you had your attack while  
you were still in the water? You could have  
drown."  
  
Kamen flexed her fingers on the pressure  
points of Kurayami's wrist, and made him release  
his hold on her knee. She pulled his hand from  
her and lightly tossed it away. "Hiei is not to  
blame for that. He was trying to comply with my  
wishes, by leaving me alone." She turned away from  
him and angrily started to throw the clothes back  
in the chest.  
  
Kurayami placed a firm hand on her chin, and  
made her look at him. For an instant, Kamen felt  
panicked, trapped, but ignored it as an  
overreaction to her nightmare. He put the  
fingertips of both hands on her forehead and then  
traced the features of her face down to her chin.   
There was a faint hint of a memory in that touch,  
but she couldn't tell from where, or how.   
  
"I didn't mean to upset you, little one.   
It's just that I don't trust anyone to look after  
you, like I can." he cupped her chin in both hands  
and pulled her face toward him. She was so  
startled when he kissed her cheek, and then moved  
his lips over hers, that she didn't move or  
respond. He dropped his hands and ended the  
one-sided kiss. He reached around her and  
selected one of the garments that she had thrown  
in the chest.  
  
"Here, why don't you put this on, and I'll  
get your headpiece and dagger." Kurayami left the  
room, and Kamen was more confused than ever.   
=====================  
  
Kurayami practically ran over Utsuro, when he  
left Kamen's room. The boy had changed from his  
wispy clothes into a standard youkai outfit, of  
loose pants and close fitting tunic, in his  
trademark blue-green of course. He could tell by  
the smirk on the boy's face that he had watched  
the performance in the room from one the many  
mirrors in the compound.  
  
"Didn't go quite as you planed,  
Kurayami-sama?" Kurayami didn't show the annoyance  
he felt at the boy's question, but smiled instead.  
  
"No, not quite. I knew that she was  
stubborn, but I didn't realize just how stubborn."  
  
"So what do we do now?" Utsuro asked as he  
moved to stand so that he was touching him.   
Kurayami was barely able to kept from laughing at  
the boy's obviousness.  
  
"Well, I think that we have to step up the  
plan a bit. She isn't healed completely, but if  
I'm right my little girl has more tricks up her  
sleeve than we know about."   
  
"So do you want me to go get the human woman  
now?" Kurayami considered this for a moment.   
  
"No, I think we have a much better pawn than  
the human, right here under our roof." Kurayami  
walked over to one of the mirrors on the wall, and  
willed it to show him the cave where his guest  
were being held. The five of them were huddled  
together, obviously discussing strategies. He let  
the image contract on one individual out of the  
group. That individual focused his three eyes  
directly at Kurayami, as if he could see him.  
  
"Let's see how stubborn my little girl is  
when her precious fire demon is dead."  
  
====================  
  
Yet another chapter done. After this I can start  
killing everybody off!   
Like all the other chapters, comments and replies  
are nice.  
  
Kat 


	18. eighteen

/..../ indicates wild thoughts running though  
Kurama's head, and are not ment to make complete  
sense.  
  
Broken Mask  
Chapter 18  
by Kat Aubuchon  
  
  
Kurama felt Hiei's attention being drawn away  
from their conversation. He looked up in the  
direction Hiei was looking, but saw and sensed  
nothing of importance. However, this didn't quite  
his fears. He had learned long ago to trust the  
instincts of this youkai that wasn't even a tenth  
of his age.  
  
"What is it, Hiei?" the others in the group  
looked up at Kurama's question, and began reaching  
out with their own individual senses for what had  
caught their friend's attention.  
  
"Not sure," he mumbled, as he continued to  
search for whom ever was causing his feelings of  
concern. Kurama could see a faint blue glow from  
Hiei's Jagan, but Hiei soon gave up on that, the  
strain was obviously too much.  
  
"Well, whatever's out there we better hurry  
up and find a way out of here before we get  
another visitor," Yuusuke suggested. His softly  
spoken command pulled their attention back to the  
plans they were making. "We all agree that a  
direct assault on the walls will be useless,  
because of the crystals," they all murmured their  
agreement. When they had made their initial  
inspection of the room they found that the walls  
were practically lined with clear crystals. Hiei  
assured them that they were the same crystals that  
were used to drain him of his youki. That  
confirmed that Kurayami was behind Hiei's  
abduction, but to what ends was the question. All  
he seemed to want was Kamen, why would he want to  
lay such elaborate traps?  
  
"Fighting Utsuro in a room this size would be  
suicide. Even if Yuusuke can match his power, the  
room is too small for a battle between two S-class  
youkai, and us," Yuurei said as he gestured, with  
his ghostly paw, at the pool along the wall," He  
will definitely have an advantage, because he  
draws his power from the water."  
  
"Then we have to go with my plan," Kuwabara  
said with a pleased smile on his large face.  
  
"Can I surrender now?" Hiei asked, not  
looking at anyone in particular.  
  
"Shut up, geek!"  
  
"Hiei! Quit it! We're not getting out of  
here if we don't all start cooperating." Hiei  
made one of his usual snorts at Kurama's  
suggestion, and began to pace. Kurama realized  
that Hiei had been snapping at all of them, since  
Kurayami made his appearance, and gave his little  
peep show of Kamen. There was no mistaking the  
bite mark on her neck, the finger width bruises on  
her arms and legs, or the confusion on her face  
when she woke up. Kurayami was using Kamen for  
more than just her powers, it would seem.  
  
"Ok. Kuwabara-kun where did you think you saw  
the opening?" Kurama asked. After Kuwabara  
pointed at one of the walls, he walked over to the  
wall Kuwabara had indicated. Kurama placed the  
seed from his pocket on to the ground, and forced  
it to grow at an unnaturally fast rate. The  
plant's purpose was to provide enough light to see  
the entire wall clearly. Sure enough there was an  
opening near the ceiling of the cave.  
Unfortunately the opening was only big enough for  
maybe Hiei to get though.  
  
"Ok, now what do we do, Idea Man?" Hiei asked  
dryly.   
  
"Hey, it was only a suggestion!" Kuwabara  
yelled at him.  
  
"And it may still work," Yuurei walked up to  
the wall, and looked up the steep side to the  
opening they found, "I could get up there, crawl  
though the shaft and find a way to get the rest of  
you out of here. I know the lay out of the  
compound."  
  
"Great idea, except your a ghost. How are  
you going to do all that if you can't even touch  
solid objects?" Yuusuke asked. Yuurei turned to  
them, and then stared strait at Kurama. He knew  
what his kitsune self was thinking, if the two of  
them merged back together, then Kurama would have  
the full range of his youko power, and be able to  
take kitsune form.  
  
"Are you sure about this Yuurei?" Kurama had  
to ask, he knew that it was not a decision Yuurei  
should make lightly. Once they were formed back  
together, the kitsune would have to lose his  
individual identity, because Kurama was the whole  
that Yuurei was taken out of. Yuurei looked back  
to where Kurayami had shown them Kamen and heaved  
a dejected sigh.  
  
"I would have liked to have seen her one more  
time, with my own eyes." Yuurei turned to him and  
then nodded. "I'm sure, let's get it over with."  
  
Kurama went to one knee on the floor, and let  
the part of him that was youko free. He could  
feel his bones reforming, his skin stretch to  
accommodate the lengthening of his body, there was  
the customary tingle around his body, as his youki  
changed his outward appearance. Without looking  
he knew that his hair was beginning to lay strait  
down his back and change from the blood red that  
came with his human body to the silver he had been  
born with. His senses picked up, and he could  
hear the heartbeat of everyone around him, he  
could feel the underground spring that fed the  
pool in the cave.   
  
There was always a wild rush that came with  
his change, a desire to be like he once was. He  
used to let that part of him have full rein when  
it wanted, letting that side of himself handle the  
fighting that, as a human, he saw as unnecessary.   
He realized, not too long ago, that he was  
actually hiding from his youko side. Ignoring it,  
hoping that he would not have to deal with the  
feelings and desires that this part of him  
possessed. He realized that he had been wrong,  
that he need that part of himself to enjoy life,  
not just live it. Kurama briefly wondered what  
kind of change his reforming with Yuurei was going  
to evoke.  
  
Yuurei approached him from behind, walk  
through his body and then sat on the same piece of  
ground that he was kneeling. There was a small  
amount of repulsion between them as his body  
fought against this seemingly outside force.   
Suddenly there was a flare of youki that connected  
the two of them, drawing Yuurei's consciousness  
into his own. The effect was more than just a  
little dizzying. His mind and soul were warping,  
straining to accommodate the new memories,  
feelings, sights, sounds. Kurama could feel his  
body go though sensory overload, and was powerless  
to stop it.  
  
/What day is it to day, Koishii?/  
  
/Monday./  
  
/No silly! It's your birthday!/  
  
/Tell me another story, Yuurei, and make it a  
long one!/  
  
/How do you know there is a rabbit in the   
moon, Koishii?/  
  
/I am NOT TAKING A BATH!/  
  
/Koishii! Please don't leave me! I'll do  
anything, just please don't leave me!/  
  
/Come run with me, Koishii! Don't sit there  
moping!/  
  
/I couldn't let them hurt you, Koishii, your  
my best friend. Everything I am is because of  
you. I love you, Koishii, and I'm not going to let  
you die on me./  
  
/Will you be with me forever, Koishii?/  
  
/Yes, Kamen, for as long as I'm able.  
Whatever it takes./  
  
/Yuurei? Do you think that there is a reason  
for everything that happens to us?/  
  
/Yes, I think there must be a reason behind  
everything that is, or there would be no purpose  
in living./  
  
/Then I must be here to make sure you don't  
turn into a cranky old kitsune, Jichan./  
  
/I'll show you old and cranky, imp!/  
  
/Please Koishii! Don't leave me!/  
  
/...for as long as I'm able. Whatever it  
takes./  
  
Kurama struggled with the new amount of power  
that was coursing through him, at the same time he  
was trying to deal with the wave of new emotions  
that were, and were not his. Memories, a part of  
him held dear. Moments of a life that could never  
be wholly his, a relationship he felt deprived at  
not being apart of. Kamen had been everything to  
Yuurei: a daughter, a friend, a companion, a love,  
a rival, a student, a teacher. He taught her how  
to survive, and she taught him how to live and  
love life.  
  
He was amazed how Yuurei's feeling for Kamen  
mirrored those he had for his mother. He was  
shocked by how closely those feeling mirrored the  
ones he had for Hiei. Kamen and Hiei were so much  
alike in so many ways, that one could be the  
other. Kurama was still trying to sort out his  
feeling when the tension in the room became strong  
enough to draw his attention way from his own  
problems.  
  
During the possess of taking Yuurei back into  
himself, Utsuro had come into the cave, and had  
neatly divided the group. To one side of the  
room, where the pool was, Utsuro had made a  
barrier of sickly green electricity to kept  
Yuusuke and Kuwabara to the side. Kurama noticed  
that he was also behind a similar green barrier,  
leaving Hiei alone in the middle of the cave with  
Utsuro.  
  
Kurama came to his feet, but he had used a  
large about of youki moments ago, and could only  
mange to stand shakily on his feet. He didn't  
like that Utsuro had made sure that Hiei was the  
only one in the same section as himself. Hiei was  
crouched in a ready stance, with his black blade  
already blazing with his fury. Utsuro stood with  
his back against the wall, next to the mirror like  
surface that they had seen Kamen in earlier. The  
youkai, that had an unnatural attachment to  
blue-green clothing, was standing as relaxed as he  
had been the first time they had seen him floating  
over the bathing pool in Mukuro's capital.  
  
"I'm glad to see that I have all of your  
attention now," the fair faced boy said, as he  
looked at Kurama separately from the rest. "I was  
wondering how long it was going to take you pull  
yourself back together, youko, but now that you  
have the fun can begin." Utsuro rapped on the  
mirrored surface next to him with his knuckles.   
The wall came to life, much like it had before,  
and showed the same room they had looked into  
earlier.  
  
Kurama's eyes were drawn to mirror. When he  
saw Kamen walk up to her side of the mirror, all  
the emotions that he had put aside came rushing  
back with double force. Upon seeing her, the  
first thought he had was how much she had changed  
over the years. Her hair was down to her knees  
now, and her eyes had a hardness that hadn't been  
there when he'd known her. He was quick to notice  
the armband that was unmistakably Hiei's. There  
was a jealous turn in his stomach, but he wasn't  
sure if it was for Hiei or Kamen.   
  
Kamen stood in front of the mirror and was  
finishing buttoning the four small gold buttons on  
her top, if it could have been called a top. It  
was little more than a dark green velvet vest with  
gauzy sleeves in gold. The neckline plunged much  
lower than anything he knew she would be  
comfortable in, and as if she could hear him,  
started to pull on the neckline, trying to make it  
cover more than it was. She made a sighing  
motion, and Kurama realized than he was able to  
see Kamen but not hear her. Utsuro made a motion  
with his hand toward the mirror, and Kurama could  
hear her tapping her foot, somewhere below where  
they were able to see.  
  
"This will be no fun, if you don't have the  
full surround sound effect." Utsuro chuckled.   
Kurama had the urge to rip the damn youkai's  
throat out with his teeth, but kept his anger in  
check. He knew that this was not a time to be  
losing his temper.  
  
Kurama refocused his attention on the mirror  
when he heard a very loud rip. Kamen had decided  
that the soft sleeves on the vest were not  
necessary, and had pulled one completely off. She  
tucked the few loose strands of material up under  
what was left of the sleeve, and reached for the  
other one. It came free as easily as the first.   
Kamen now had a velvet vest that came down too low  
in the front, and came to just below her breasts.   
She gave a few more tugs on the neckline, then  
gave up. Kurama found himself smiling at her  
obvious discomfort.  
  
"I'm sure where ever you are Koishii, your  
probably laughing you ass off, with this one."  
Kurama was startled to hear her speak to him as if  
he was really there and listening. It felt  
strange to have her call him by a name that was  
not his, but he had claimed as his own. Kamen  
made an experimental hop on the balls of her feet.  
  
"Well, it least it's tight enough to keep me  
from bouncing out of the damn thing." Kamen  
stepped back from the mirror, and made a quick  
turn, then turned so that her back was to the  
mirror. Kurama's heart constricted at the sight  
of the fresh bruises and the scars on her lower  
back just visible through her gold hair. The  
bottom piece of the outfit she was wearing was  
even worse than the top in concealing her body.  
  
There was a gold belt that hung very low on  
the flare of her hips, that was marked with the  
same kind of dragon pattern as the gold buttons on  
her top. The belt was ment only for decoration,  
and obviously not used as a true belt. The fabric  
that came out below the belt was of the same dark  
green velvet as the vest. The material hung down  
to her shins in the front and the back, but left a  
three inch wide gap from her hip all the way down  
her legs.  
  
Kamen gave another sigh of frustration, and  
walked out of view of the mirror. After a few  
minutes and Kamen didn't come back he began to  
wonder if she had left the room all together, but  
then she came to stand in front of them again.   
From somewhere in the room Kamen had found two  
large hair pieces, that used large metal pins as  
anchors. She took one and fastened it six inches  
down the side of the gap, with the pin going  
through both pieces of material. She then bent  
the pin on both ends so that it couldn't slip or  
fall out on its own. She stood back away from the  
mirror and examined her handy work. She must  
have found it acceptable, because she did it to  
the other side as well.  
  
"She's quite the little exhibitionist, isn't  
she?" Utsuro commented dryly. Kurama saw Hiei  
stiffen out of the corner of his eye, and hoped  
that Hiei would be able to hold his temper.  
Unfortunately Utsuro noticed that his jab had hit  
a nerve. "What's the matter midget? Don't like it  
that the little whore is showing off for  
everybody, and not just you."  
  
Hiei didn't make a sound as he charged the  
snickering youkai. The first blue-green ball of  
energy missed him by hairs, but the next hit him  
square in the chest. It carried him up to the  
ceiling where stalagmites pierced into his skin  
and broke in half as he crashed into them. Kurama  
cried out Hiei's name, but his voice only echoed  
back against the green barrier that separated  
them. Kurama did hear a started scream come from  
the direction of the mirror. The crystals around  
Hiei started to turn black as they drained the  
youki from him.   
  
Yuusuke and Kuwabara were pounding away at  
their barrier, trying to get to Hiei, but the same  
type of tentacles that dragged them into the  
bathing pool before, came from the pond behind  
them and wrapped their struggling forms up tight.  
  
Utsuro tsked at Hiei's cursing form, and let  
the energy ball dissipate. Hiei fell to the floor  
with a crack of stone, then lifted himself slowly  
to his feet once more. The fire demon glared all  
his hatred at the snide youkai, but remained where  
was.   
  
"Now, we can have you jumping the gun too  
quickly," Utsuro snickered, "Look, you've upset  
your girlfriend."   
  
Both Hiei and Kurama looked quickly to the  
mirror. Kamen was staring blankly at the mirror,  
holding her right forearm to her stomach. She  
absently rubbed the metal armband, as if she were  
in pain. From inside the room a door could be  
heard opening and then closing. Kurayami  
approached Kamen from behind, but she was so  
wrapped up in what was happening to her she didn't  
notice him until he touched her.  
  
Kurama saw her jump when Kurayami placed his  
hands on her shoulders. She looked panicked for  
moment, then she turned to face him, with a weak  
smile plastered on her face. Kurayami placed his  
hand on her cheek, and something inside Kurama  
wanted to brake every bone in that hand.  
  
"What is the matter, little one?" Kurayami  
asked in a comforting coo that made Kurama want to  
throw up.  
  
"Nothing... I thought...," Kamen turned back  
to the mirror and ran her hand down it's surface.  
"It's just that for a moment I thought I heard...  
I felt Hiei... I don't know." Kurayami loving  
stroked her hair and pulled her to him so that she  
was leaning against his chest. Kamen turned her  
cheek into his chest and placed her hands on his  
shoulders, but kept her eyes on the mirror.  
  
"You really have grown attached to him,  
haven't you? Do you think that's wise?" Kamen  
push away from Kurayami, and gave him a glare.   
Kurama hoped that she starting to see though  
Kurayami's lies for the fake he was.  
  
"What do you mean by that, Nichan?" Kurama  
cringed at the thought of Kamen trusting that  
snake enough to call him her brother. He wished  
for the millionth time that he had told Kamen  
about Kurayami before he died.   
  
Kurama mentally gave himself a shake. He  
wasn't the one that died, Yuurei was. He wasn't  
the one that wished that Kamen would slit  
Kurayami's throat from ear to ear, was he? With a  
start Kurama suddenly realized that he was Yuurei  
and Yuurei was him. He would never be able to  
separate his feelings for Kamen from himself.   
They were his feelings as much as they were  
Yuurei's. If he had of lived, and if he had of  
met Kamen as a whole youko, he doubted that his  
feelings for her would be any different. He was  
Yuurei as much as he was Shuuichi or Kurama.  
Kurama watched with new eyes as Kurayami gave  
Kamen a disarming smile as he stroked her face.  
  
"All I'm saying, little one, is that you  
should be careful. There are people out there  
that could and would hurt you," Kurayami held  
Kamen at arm's length and looked her up and down.   
"And look what you've done! I leave you alone for  
a few minutes, and when I come back I find that  
your ripping your clothes apart. Wasn't ripping  
the sheet in half enough for you?" Kamen pushed  
his hands away and looked into the mirror.  
  
"Look at this thing, Nichan! I could catch a  
cold on a summer day in this... this... thing! I  
promised myself I'd never wear anything like this  
after I left Yomi." Kamen pulled at the neckline  
of her top again, and made sure that the clips on  
her sides were securely fastened. She ran her  
fingers across her flat bare stomach. "That was  
the best part about finally getting pregnant.   
Yomi didn't make me wear these stupid things  
anymore. It's very hard to look pleasing when you  
have a belly out to here." Kamen stretched he  
arms out as far as they would go, in an  
overdramatic display of how large she had gotten.  
  
Kurama was simply stunned. Kamen pregnant?   
He looked closely at her stomach, and saw the tell  
tale silvery marks across her stomach. Not only  
pregnant, but pregnant by Yomi?! He quickly  
counted back the years. Shura was just about the  
right age to be Kamen's child, but the boy looked  
nothing like her. Youko traits always ran strong,  
and normally something would show, even if he was  
only a quarter youko. Kurama stored this  
information away for later, right now he had more  
important things to worry about.  
  
Kurayami produced Kamen's headpiece, dagger,  
pins, and a hair brush from his pocket. After he  
helped her strap the dagger into place he began to  
brush her long tangled hair.  
  
"So, are you feeling better?" Kurayami asked  
as he worked on getting the tangles from Kamen's  
hair. She traced under her breast, where Kurama  
knew the wound was, and shrugged her shoulders.  
  
"It doesn't really hurt anymore, and I think  
it has completely closed together now."   
  
"How about the nightmares?" Kamen stiffened.   
Kurama wanted to kill the bastard right then for  
using Kamen the way he was. Making it sound like  
he was concerned for her welfare, when he was the  
one giving her the nightmares in the first place.  
Apparently Hiei and Kuwabara felt the same way.   
From where he stood, Kurama could hear Hiei growl  
deep in his throat. Black sparks crackled around  
his tightly closed fists. Kuwabara was struggling  
in the tentacles that still held him and Yuusuke.  
  
"Don't listen to that son-of-a-bitch, Kamen!"  
Kuwabara screamed at her. Kamen's hand flew to  
her ear, as if to catch a sound that was far off  
in the distance.  
  
"What is it, Kamen?" Kurayami asked as he  
finished tieing off the end of her long braid.  
  
"I must be going crazy. I could have sworn  
that I just heard Kuwa-chan's voice."  
  
"Are you sure?" Kamen laughed at Kurayami's  
question.  
  
"There's no mistaking Kuwa-chan's voice, for  
anyone else's." Kurayami came up behind Kamen,  
wrapped his arms around her shoulders and kissed  
the side of her neck. That was when Kurama knew  
that he was going to pull the ears, and various  
other parts of Kurayami's anatomy, off with his  
bare hands.  
  
"That brings me back to my other point. How  
much do you trust these people? They are Kurama's  
friends, after all." Kamen tried to pull away from  
Kurayami, but he held on to her tightly. With a  
dejected sigh she gave up trying.  
  
"I don't know what to think about that,"  
Kurama's heart quicken as he hung on every word  
she said. "I know Kurama was the one that forced  
my soul to the Makai, but Hiei is so sure that he  
isn't the one that attacked me. I mean he's a  
youko, right. Any youko would do everything in  
his power to survive, even if it ment killing  
someone. That's just their... our nature. I  
can't fault him for that, can I?" Kurayami's face  
twisted in shock at her words, and Kurama smiled.  
  
  
"But, what about the nightmares? Only he  
would know that you were the one he forced out.   
He would be the only one that would know about the  
things that happened in the dreams, and in your  
life." Kurama could here the panic in Kurayami's  
voice, as he realized that Kamen wasn't completely  
under his control.   
  
"If Kurama was the bastard I've been  
believing him to be all this time, how could he  
have made such loyal friends? I mean Raizen would  
not pick a stupid heir that chose to have deadly  
youkai around him as friends, and Kuwa-chan may  
come off as being an idiot, but people like him  
just don't give their undying loyalty to anyone  
walking down the street. Then there's Hiei."  
Kamen absently stroked the armband on her right  
arm. Kurama was sure she was unaware of the smile  
that came to her lips, or the scowl that Kurayami  
now wore. "I just can't believe that Hiei would  
trust someone, like the Kurama I know. They all  
trust him with their lives. I saw it myself."  
  
"But, will you trust him with yours?"  
Kurayami turned Kamen around so that she was  
facing him. "There's something I have to tell you,  
little one. Something I should have told you a  
long time ago, but there never seemed to be a good  
time." Kurama decided that Kurayami must have been  
an actor in his previous life, because he was  
putting on a great act now. "Do you remember when  
you were captured by Yomi, and Yuurei was killed?"  
  
Kurama's ears perked completely forward as he  
focused all his attention to the drama being  
played out in front of him. He didn't know what  
Kurayami was trying to get at, but he knew for a  
fact it couldn't be good. He watched as  
unbearable pain crossed over Kamen's face. He  
wanted to scream at her that he was here and  
alive. That she wasn't alone, and that he was  
going to be with her, for as long as he was able,  
whatever it took.  
  
Kamen made a strangled noise that could have  
passed for a yes, and Kurayami smiled into the  
mirror. Utsuro smiled back, and pushed himself  
away from the wall.  
  
"Now the real fun will begin," he announced  
happily. Yuusuke, Kuwabara, and Hiei were trading  
various insults with the youkai, but Kurama  
couldn't pull his eyes way from the mirror.   
Kurayami cupped Kamen's chin in his hands and made  
her look into his eyes.  
  
"Kamen... Kurama killed Yuurei." Kamen's face  
drained of all her color, and she weakly tried to  
shake her head. "It's true, little one. Kurama  
was the one that told Yomi that you were coming,  
he was the one that poisoned you and then killed  
Yuurei. Think about it. Kurama is Yomi's chosen  
heir. Don't you remember what happened?" Kurama  
watched helplessly as black tendrils of energy  
crawled like slugs from Kurayami's fingers on  
Kamen's chin to her ears. The almost living  
creatures made there way inside her ear, and she  
started to sob hysterically.   
  
Kurama didn't need to listen to her screaming  
both of his names, one in terror and the other in  
love, to know what illusion Kurayami had placed  
inside his head. Kamen screamed and furiously  
pounded on Kurayami's chest, making him grunt in  
pain. The insanity of her awaking nightmare drove  
Kamen to levels of strength she didn't previously  
possesses. With almost no effort, she sent  
Kurayami flying to the wall opposite her, and with  
nothing to direct her attack against she turned to  
the mirror. The glass surface broke easily under  
her fists, and was unnecessary for him to continue  
watching her torment. The armband and the dagger  
sheath was able to protect her arms from the  
flying glass, but her hands and face were not so  
lucky.  
  
Kurama could see blood running from the wound  
under her right eye, where a large piece of glass  
had found a home. Her badly cut knuckles  
continued to pound on the stone behind the glass  
she had broken, making eerie patterns of blood  
across the surface that Kurama could see.   
Suddenly arms came around her and pulled her away  
from the wall. Kurayami held on for dear life as  
he tried to restrain her. He made a nod toward  
the mirror, and then dragged her out of view.  
  
"Ahh yes, there's my cue," Utsuro said as he  
turned to Hiei. He held out his hand and a long  
whip made of the same sickly green energy as the  
barriers that contained them, came into being. He  
gave an experimental snap of he wrist and the tip  
of the whip spilt the air and made the customary  
crack.  
  
"You know something used isn't right... let  
me think.... ahh yes. I remember." Utsuro gave  
the whip another crack, but this time when it  
stilled little thorns had appeared on the surface  
of the once smooth whip.  
  
"Much better." he decided. He turned to Hiei and  
advanced slowly. "Just think how upset the little  
whore is going to be to find out that Kurama not  
only killed her beloved Koishii," he snarled the  
name as it was acid on his tongue, "but that he  
also killed her new little fire demon friend."   
  
Kurama felt stark panic as the youkai  
advanced on Hiei, a replica of his choice of  
weapons on his hands. He though that his spirit  
could take no more when he listened to Kamen's  
screams, but he knew that if Utsuro killed Hiei,  
here and now, his life would be over.  
  
===============  
  
I'm ending this monster here and now. I hope you  
like this chapter Gen-chan, because it drove me  
crazy to write it. Of course I want all of you  
guys to like my story, so drop me a line if you  
even receive it, because me e-mail hasn't been  
sending my posts like it should.  
  
As always comments and replies are welcome and  
looked for.  
  
Kat 


	19. nineteen

Hey, guess what! It's back! If any of you  
remember this is the story I started a looong time  
ago and haven't done much with in the last few  
weeks. (Or is it months.) Anyway for those people  
that can't quite remember that far back in ancient  
history, here is a summary of what has happened up  
till now:  
  
Kurama, in youko form, Hiei, Yuusuke and  
Kuwabara have been basically kidnapped by Kurayami  
and Utsuro so that Kurayami can use them to  
control Kamen. Right now Kurama and his kitsune  
side, Yuurei, have just been put back together,  
and Utsuro has split the four heroes up so that  
Kurama is alone, Hiei is alone (battling Utsuro),  
and Yuusuke and Kuwabara are together (on the side  
of the cave with the pool). Kurayami is with  
Kamen and has a very good hold on her (he put  
these very disgusting slimy slugy things in her  
head that are intensifying the illusions that he  
is giving her. Yuck!) somewhere else in the  
compound.  
  
  
Broken Mask   
Chapter 19  
by Kat Aubuchon  
  
"Kuwabara!" Yuusuke yelled as he pulled his  
friend's head above the surface of the water  
again.   
  
Kuwabara coughed and choked on the water in  
his lungs, trying to clear them of cold  
underground water so that he could breathe.   
Kuwabara couldn't count the number of times  
Utsuro's tight energy tentacles had dragged him  
below the pool's surface, trying to flood the air  
from him. Each time he went under into the pitch  
black water Kuwabara wondered if it would be the  
last, if he would ever see his sister or Yukina  
again. Kuwabara went over all the events in his  
life one by one. His time in school, the  
tournaments, deadly adventures he shared with the  
closest friends he was ever likely to have and  
regretted nothing, even coming to save Hiei.  
  
Kuwabara wanted to laugh at himself for  
becoming so sentimental over the damn runt. But  
Kuwabara knew that no matter how crazy Hiei made  
him, or how rude the fire demon was to him, or how  
ridiculous he thought the idea of the two of them  
being friends was, he still respected Hiei as a  
warrior. Hiei was still apart of their team, he  
was one of the four even if he didn't want to be.   
  
Kuwabara knew that Yuusuke was waiting for  
him to say he was all right but right now he  
wasn't so sure. His lungs still burned because of  
the oxygen deprivation and his throat was raw and  
bleeding. Kuwabara could taste blood on the back  
of his tongue from the many times he had to vomit  
the water from his stomach. Right now Kuwabara  
would have liked nothing more than to pound that  
arrogant son of a bitch with the pretty face and  
blue-green hair into a small, bloody spot on the  
cave floor with his fists.   
  
Utsuro had been using Kuwabara to control  
Yuusuke while he carved Hiei up like a prized  
kill. The blue-green youkai had been plunging  
Kuwabara under the water's surface so that Yuusuke  
was totally preoccupied with trying to keep his  
friend from drowning. It was a very effective  
ploy, it made Yuusuke spend all his time and  
energy keeping Kuwabara alive and ignoring the  
battle that was nearly to completion just a few  
meters away.  
  
Kuwabara watched Hiei sway on his feet with  
the combination of his injuries and the drain to  
his youki his attacks had caused. The skin on  
almost every part of Hiei's body was ripped and  
bleeding, hanging loosely to the bone underneath.   
The fire demon's right arm was completely  
blackened and charred from the amount of youki  
Hiei had released against Utsuro with little, or  
no effect.   
  
Hiei's only advantage against Utsuro had been  
his speed and agility but once the youkai had  
taken that from him by cutting through the tendons  
and muscle in Hiei's right thigh the fire demon  
had no chance of winning. Hiei could no longer  
fight effectively against the much more powerful  
opponent.   
  
Kuwabara could see that Hiei wore a mask of  
grim determination over the fatigue and fear. The  
fire demon knew that there was no way he could  
survive this battle but he wasn't going to lose  
quietly, or easily. It was easy to see that Hiei  
had already accepted the finality of his death and  
was only holding out to the last moment to die.  
  
Kuwabara had seen some of the fight between  
Utsuro and Hiei when he was not under the water.   
From the very beginning it had been obvious that  
Hiei wasn't going to do very well. The fire demon  
had repeatedly lost his temper when Utsuro made  
snide comments about Kamen. The youkai would tell  
Hiei, in great detail, what Kurayami had done to  
her and what his master was planing on doing with  
her once Hiei was dead.  
  
Hiei had given Utsuro way too many openings  
that the youkai took advantage of. A misstep  
here and wrong move there and Hiei's opponent had  
been able to slip through the fire demon's guard  
to leave telling gashes on the fire demon's pale  
skin. Each lash of the whip had left a opening in  
Hiei's flesh that bled heavily, weakening him.   
Utsuro had easily repelled all of Hiei's anger  
driven attacks and each one of the youkai's  
strikes with the barbed whip had found a spot on  
Hiei's small body. After only a few minutes of  
repeated failed attempts by Hiei to get through  
Utsuro's defenses, Hiei had started to slow down  
considerably.  
  
Hiei's one and only hit that he was able to  
land on Utsuro was across the youkai's face. Now  
the beautiful youkai wore a gash from his left  
temple all the way down to the corner of his  
mouth.   
  
At one point, Utsuro had landed a very  
precise strike that had taken out Hiei's third eye  
and effectively left the fire demon permanently  
crippled. Kuwabara had been under the water just  
after Hiei had shrieked with pain and had fallen  
to his knees. Just as he had been pulled under,  
Kuwabara could see large arcs of uncontrolled  
youki had leaping from Hiei once the Jagan that  
maintained them was destroyed. He had been sure  
that if he was brought to the surface again that  
Hiei would already be dead, but the fire demon had  
continued to fight.   
  
"Help, Hiei, damn it!" Kuwabara finally  
yelled at Yuusuke when he had enough air in his  
lungs.  
  
Kuwabara saw uncertainty and fear etched in  
his friend's face as Yuusuke looked over his  
shoulder at the severely wounded Hiei. Kuwabara  
knew what Yuusuke's dilemma was. His friend was  
an S-class fighter but even Yuusuke couldn't be in  
two places at once. He could either hold  
Kuwabara's head above the water and watch Hiei be  
cut to ribbons with Utsuro's whip, or he could let  
his best friend drown and hope that he could get  
through the energy barrier in time in save the  
fire demon.  
  
Kuwabara looked beyond the fight that Hiei  
was losing to Kurama. The youko was curled up on  
the floor holding his head between his hands,  
groaning and talking incoherently. Kuwabara  
reached out with his enhanced psychic senses and  
passed through the two barriers separating them.   
He went into Kurama's mind and saw the struggle  
that was taking place inside him.  
  
Both the person that Kuwabara knew as Kurama  
and the kitsune Yuurei were fighting for control  
of the youko's body. It was surprising to  
Kuwabara that Yuurei had so much influence that he  
was not only able to retain his identity but to  
have a will of his own inside Kurama. Yuurei was  
refusing to let Kurama take dominance because he  
wanted to save Kamen while Kurama wanted to help  
Hiei. The two sides were evenly matched and  
neither one could get an advantage over the other.   
The struggle between the two identities inside  
Kurama was rendered moot when Hiei took his last  
breath and slumped to the ground in a bloody heap.  
  
Kuwabara pulled away from Kurama's mind when  
he felt the fire demon's soul let go of the  
physical world. As he sat there with Utsuro's  
tentacles trying to pull him to his own death, the  
feeling of disbelief washed over Kuwabara. He  
just couldn't believe that the arrogant, little  
fire demon was actually dead. Kuwabara was struck  
hard with the unfairness of Hiei's death. He was  
the one that was human, he was the one out of the  
four that was suppose to die before the rest.   
Kuwabara reached out to Hiei's mind and searched  
until he found a tiny spark of life still inside  
the crumpled form.  
  
For now Hiei was still alive but his heart  
had stopped pumping and his lungs had stopped  
bringing in air. It would be only a matter of  
minutes before that last little spark was gone and  
Hiei would be lost forever.  
  
The final blow that had brought Hiei down had  
been a lash at his unprotected throat. The  
thorned whip had cut into the fire demon's  
windpipe, making him gurgle blood from the opening  
in his neck. Now even if Hiei wanted to breath he  
couldn't.   
  
Hiei laid on the ground unmoving as Utsuro  
approached him. The other youkai pushed at Hiei's  
body with his toe and then bent down to turn him  
over so that the fire demon laid on his back.   
Hiei's throat gaped open obscenely and made  
Kuwabara want to turn away from the sight. Of all  
the wounds that littered Hiei's body the worse was  
his destroyed Jagan. Black blood from the eye  
mixed with the red smeared on Hiei's face made a  
grotesque death mask.   
  
"Damn! I killed the little shit," Utsuro  
said with mock concern and a one sided smile, "I  
guess Kurayami-sama is just going to have to work  
with a corpse instead."  
  
Utsuro picked Hiei up and threw him over his  
shoulder and started to walk out of the room.   
Suddenly the ground began to shake and Kuwabara  
was struck dumb by the sheer power that was being  
generated by the youko across the room.   
  
Kurama had obviously solved his identity  
crisis and was no longer laying incapacitated on  
the ground. With his plant mage powers, Kurama  
was creating the largest tree Kuwabara had ever  
seen. The bark was a stone gray, the branches had  
no leaves and the roots were pushing under the  
green barrier and were popping up all over the  
room. As the branches touched the energy wall  
there were sparks of electricity attacking the  
limbs.   
  
There was a white, hot aura around Kurama  
that was blinding to look at and impossible to  
ignore. Pure fury, was the only possible way to  
describe the drive behind Kurama's surge of youki.   
Kuwabara, for the first time since he'd known  
Kurama, was scared of the youko and his total loss  
of control.   
  
Utsuro was smirking at Kurama's attempt to  
make his plant destroy the energy barrier. The  
rip in his cheek pulled and puckered his face and  
made him ugly. Utsuro was obviously not worried  
about Kurama braking through the wall that  
separated him from the youko until it began to  
buckle.  
  
"You are a dead SON OF A BITCH!" Kurama  
screamed as the pale green barrier ripped apart  
with a flare of sparks and hisses.  
  
Utsuro took several steps back when the  
barrier he erected fell. Kurama advanced on the  
youkai, his rose whip uncurled and dragging  
against the ground. Kurama's eyes were cold and  
deadly as they stared straight forward, completely  
focused on his prey. Utsuro took several more  
steps back and then grinned at Kurama, making the  
gash on his cheek bleed.   
  
"Well, as much as I'm sure you would like to  
'talk' I'm afraid I have another appointment.   
Bye," Utsuro chirped in a sickening patronizing  
tone that made Kuwabara want to strangle him with  
his bare hands.  
  
Utsuro wrapped himself in his own green  
energy tentacles until he and Hiei were completely  
covered in them. The solid bands of youki kept  
constricting and twisting tighter until they  
completely winked out of existence.  
  
Kurama voiced a scream that was neither human  
nor youko at being denied his target. He looked  
back at the tree that had destroyed Utsuro's wall  
and its branches changed to long, sharp spikes.   
Kurama motioned for the branches to come forward  
and they responded instantly.  
  
The wall Utsuro had been standing next to  
when he disappeared with Hiei's body was speared  
with dozens of the branches, each one a foot  
thick. Once imbedded into the wall they started  
to rip away the stone, but every one of the  
crystals that the branches encountered would drain  
some of its energy until they wilted and died.   
  
This made Kurama make more and more branches  
so that the digging could continue. The ground  
around the working branches was covered with huge  
chunks of rock and green crystals that glowed with  
the youki they indirectly absorbed from Kurama.  
  
Kuwabara realized that both he and Yuusuke  
were just sitting by watching Kurama effectively  
draining himself dry with his irrational attempt  
to locate and kill Utsuro. There was no guarentee  
that Utsuro had taken Hiei in that direction, or  
that the youkai had taken the fire demon anywhere  
near here. They had to stop Kurama before he  
really did some damage to himself, and before he  
brought the ceiling down with his digging.  
  
The bodiless tentacles that had been wrapped  
so tightly around Kuwabara had disappeared the  
instant Utsuro did, but because of Kurama's  
explosive performance neither he nor Yuusuke had  
noticed. Now Kuwabara and Yuusuke rushed to  
Kurama's side and tried to talk some sense into  
him. Yuusuke stepped in front of the youko that  
stood like a silver marble statue watching the  
work his plants were doing.  
  
"Kurama, you have to stop! You can't..."  
  
Kurama's arm was nothing but a blur as it  
passed noiselessly through the air to strike  
Yuusuke out of the way. The young man's dark  
brown eyes widened in disbelief and then narrowed  
with anger. The ceiling above then rumbled with  
the threat of falling while the branches continued  
to dig.   
  
Yuusuke push himself back to his feet and  
again stood in front of Kurama. This time when  
the youko took a swing at him, Yuusuke grabbed  
Kurama's arm and quickly twisted it behind his  
back. The plants stopped and then changed  
direction so that their sharp points were aimed at  
Yuusuke.  
  
Yuusuke grabbed a fist full of Kurama's long  
silver hair and yanked hard so that the youko had  
to bend his head back, or have it snap off his  
shoulders.   
  
"Are you going to kill me Kurama? Wasn't it  
enough that Hiei died! Or do you need another  
body to go with his?" Yuusuke hissed into his  
friend's furry ear.  
  
Kuwabara could see Kurama's face turn bright  
red with fury and the deadly branches inch closer  
to their target. Then the locks that were in  
Yuusuke's hand suddenly turned a dark red and the  
eyes that had been promising death in their cold,  
gold depths turned green and impossibly sad.  
  
"He can't be dead, Yuusuke. It just can't  
happen this way," said quietly as he slipped from  
Yuusuke's grasp to the floor.  
  
========  
  
Botan floated high above her friends, crying  
silent tears. She could not go down to them. She  
had a duty to perform and it was one that she  
couldn't ignore. For the first time in many  
centuries she wished that she could skirt her  
responsibilities and let someone else handle this  
gruesome job.  
  
In her arms, Botan held three books. Each  
one was written in non-erasable ink, recording in  
exacting detail every moment of the lives of the  
people named on the outside. In the history of  
human and youkai life there had only been a  
handful of people that their lives did not take  
the course that was laid down, word for word, in  
their own book. Yuusuke was one of those, but  
even his book hinted that he would continue on  
beyond his death.  
  
One of the books the blue haired girl held  
was coal black, it's surface was rippled with  
smooth, glassy dragon scales. Printed neatly in a  
blazing white on the front was the single name  
'Hiei'. Another book was bound in a gray leather  
that was so finely crafted that when you touched  
it felt like soft fur. On its front, in green,  
were all the names Youko Kurama had ever gone by,  
including Minamino Shuuichi, Yuurei and Koishii.   
Both of these books were sealed tight against  
prying eyes. Even Botan, the messenger of death,  
could not open the books and read them until their  
lives were over.  
  
The other book in Botan's possession was very  
different from all other journals she had ever  
seen. The most notable thing that set it apart  
was that it was unlocked, except for a portion at  
the beginning that was sealed. The pages in this  
book were not written in ink but in pencil like it  
was the first draft of a story and not the final  
word. The cover was a soft red wood that was  
almost warm to the touch. It had a solid gold  
plate on the front with the name 'Minamino  
Shuuichi' etched in a flaring scrawl. It had been  
scratched out with the tip of a sharp knife as if  
the person that had written the name had forgotten  
that they had already given it to somebody else.   
Below the damaged plate was another name carved  
into smooth wood, 'Kamen'.  
  
Botan did not know what all this meant, it  
wasn't her place to understand. All she knew was  
that she was here to perform her duties and take  
one, or two, or all of them to see Koenma-sama for  
their final judgment. She had been here, above  
her friends, invisible and silent as she watched  
Hiei being killed bit by bit. He was not dead yet  
but it wouldn't be long before he was. Already  
Botan could feel the pull of his soul as it tried  
to hold on the living even though he was dying.   
  
With just a thought, Botan used her oar to  
fly though the walls and the stone to where Hiei's  
body laid. In a room of white stone with jade  
colored veins she found him. He had been laid out  
on a white bed, ridiculously huge compared to his  
slim body. Beside him sat one of the most  
beautiful girls Botan had ever seen despite the  
blood and the tears that smeared her face and her  
hands.   
  
Botan knew her name to be Kamen, and she knew  
that she was one of the ones whose book she held,  
but this was the first time she had ever seen her.   
Kamen's green eyes were red with crying and filled  
with a sorrow that Botan was not a stranger to.   
She had seen many mothers and lovers weep over  
their dead loved ones when she took them away.   
She had heard more than her fair share of tears  
fall.  
  
Kamen was not content to let Hiei lay there  
quiet in his death. She had washed all the wounds  
that no longer bled because his heart did not pump  
the blood. She had covered his ruined Jagan with  
a customary white sash ripped from the silk sheets  
he was laying on. Kamen had even wrapped his  
right arm to cover the charred flesh there. Hiei  
looked all the world like he was asleep, though  
both Kamen and Botan knew differently.  
  
There was an exchange of words between Kamen  
and the man in the room with her but Botan didn't  
listen. Right now her place wasn't among the  
living, only the dead. Kamen said something to  
make the man leave and she thought she had been  
left alone with Hiei.   
  
Kamen leaned over the cooling fire demon and  
kissed every spot on his face that was not covered  
by the sash at his forehead. She ignored the open  
wounds and the blood that covered her lips when  
she would kiss them. As Kamen worked her way over  
to his mouth she was whispering something to him  
that for some reason Botan could almost hear.  
  
Botan closed her eyes to give them some  
semblance of privacy as Kamen pressed her lips  
against Hiei's. Then suddenly Botan felt like  
she'd been hit by a tidal wave. Her eyes flew  
open and what she saw made Death stand still.  
======  
end chapter 19  
  
Well, there you go. Another chapter for you people to sit  
around and laugh at. As always comments are welcome. 


	20. twenty

I didn't get a chance to edit this, so please bear  
with me. ^_^  
  
Broken Mask  
Chapter 20  
written by Kat Aubuchon  
  
  
The white and green marbled room echoed an  
eerie silence that seemed deafening to Kurayami.   
It had been nearly twenty minutes since Kurayami  
had started his latest attack on Kamen's mind and  
memories. After a brief struggle that left  
sizable bruises and cuts on Kurayami's arms and  
torso, Kamen had slumped against the stone wall,  
her eyes unseeing. Kurayami made sure that the  
little demon 'slugs' that he had placed in Kamen's  
head were functioning at their peak before he  
started to dress the wounds on his arms.   
  
Kurayami had not anticipated Kamen's wild  
reaction to his latest and strongest attack, and  
had been ill prepared for the hell cat that he had  
set loose. He had known that she would fight, but  
he had no idea how strong Kamen had become. The  
small pieces of different souls she had collected  
in her varied travels were lending her strength,  
making her stronger than a youkai of her caliber  
should have been.  
  
Kurayami looked up from the bandage he was  
applying when he heard a low moan from the nearly  
comatose woman against the wall. Kamen was  
pushing her cut and bleeding fingers into the long  
bangs that had escaped her once neat braid and  
hung into her face. She was slowly rocking back  
and forth, sobbing quietly into her bend knees  
while she clinched her hair tightly and pulled.   
Kurayami noticed that whole sections of her long,  
beautiful hair had been yanked from her braid and  
laid around her face in soft, golden curls like a  
fallen angle's shimmering halo.   
  
Blood still flowed from the cut under Kamen's  
eye and her battered hands oozed the sticky fluid.   
Her arms were covered with small finger-tip  
bruises where she gripped them. Kamen's deep  
green eyes were unfocused, watching scenes only  
she could see.   
  
Kurayami worried somewhat that he might be  
pushing Kamen too far by placing these corporeal  
manifestation of his power inside of her. He knew  
that she was at her braking point, but he had to  
be sure that she was under his control. Kurayami  
kept an iron gripped control on the almost  
sentient creatures that were inside Kamen's head,  
gnawing at her mind, weakening her to his will.   
He didn't want to brain damage his little one,  
just mentally unstable her enough so that she  
would be vulnerable to his influence.  
  
Kurayami was stunned when he felt Kamen start  
to physically fight back against his control.   
Somehow she was actually locking his 'slugs' in a  
part of her mind, away from her conscious thought,  
trying to protect herself. Kamen was using every  
happy memory she ever had as a barrier against his  
onslaught. When his powers would encroach on her  
delicate balance on reality, Kamen would  
concentrate on some damn picnic, or a birthday  
celebration, or some other ridiculous thing. She  
was holding on to her sanity by a thread, but that  
last support was becoming increasingly weaker as  
he pushed her to her breaking point.  
  
Kurayami made the conscious decisions to  
press the nightmares deeper into Kamen's mind.   
The rocking that had stopped started again with  
renewed vigor. Kamen was loosing herself in the  
illusions that were entangling her thoughts,  
making it impossible for her to tell the truth  
from the lies.  
  
A slight frown creased Kurayami's smooth  
forehead, he wasn't pleased with his process so  
far. Kamen shouldn't have been able to fight back  
against his carefully crafted illusions. By now  
she should have been a quivering mass of tears,  
begging for his comfort. But as fast as he could  
make the waking nightmares that were shaking the  
foundations of her reality, Kamen was  
rationalizing them away. She would convince  
herself that the images she saw were not true,  
that she was remembering them wrong. In truth all  
of the illusions that Kurayami created were based  
on real life events, but they had been changed and  
twisted to suit his needs.   
  
Even right now the illusion of Kurama killing  
Yuurei with his bare hands was based on the  
reality of Kurayami killing the fox. All Kurayami  
had to do was to replace his image with that of  
Kurama and Kamen would believe *Kurama* was the  
one the ended the fox's life. The same was true  
of Kamen's memories of her time with Yomi.   
Kurayami had replaced his own images with the  
blind youkai and Kamen had never been able to tell  
the difference. Actually Yomi had treated Kamen  
rather well as servants go, but all Kamen would  
ever remember would be the lies he gave her.  
  
Kurayami cursed under his breath as he  
realized how much damage Yuurei's presence had  
caused. All the cavorting and playing around the  
two of them had done over the years had repaired a  
lot of the damage he had originally done to  
Kamen's psyche when she was little. He knew that  
he had to reassert his power over her quickly, but  
if he pushed her too hard she would become nothing  
more than an empty shell. Kurayami had to break  
all of Kamen's links to her past, he had to  
eradicate all forms of comfort and companionship  
from her life, and then she would have only him to  
turn to.  
  
The first step had already been taken, he had  
removed Yuurei from Kamen's life. First he had  
killed the damn fox and hid his spirit away so  
that Yuurei could not find his way back to Kurama.   
Then he had allowed Yuurei and Kurama to forge  
back together so that he could get rid of both of  
them at once. Now that the physical presence of  
Yuurei was gone Kurama had no way of convincing  
Kamen that he and the fox were the same person.  
  
The second step in his plan was to take out  
that fire demon annoyance. Somehow in the space  
of a few days Hiei had became as important to  
Kamen as Yuurei and therefore a threat. Kurayami  
scowled as he observed Kamen stroking the armband  
Hiei had given her to comfort herself. He knew  
that Kamen was only staying sane because she knew  
that the last precious person in her life was  
safe. A slow, cruel smile curled Kurayami's lips  
when he thought about giving Hiei's lifeless body  
to Kamen. Once her last oasis was gone he would  
be the there to pick up the pieces, to be her  
savior, to be her only life.  
  
An even wider smile spread across his face as  
he amended his last thought. Kurayami didn't want  
Hiei dead just yet. He had seen how much power  
Kamen could wield with the piece of the fire  
demon's soul inside her and he wanted to see more.   
Emotions akin to glee and greed overtook Kurayami  
as he thought about how much youki Kamen could  
have if she took Hiei's entire soul. If he had  
control of Kamen then her strength would be his  
and he could be the most powerful youkai in the  
Makai.  
  
Kurayami checked quickly to make sure that  
Kamen was unaware of his presence before he walked  
over to the vanity and activated its mirror. The  
cold, glass refection of Kurayami was replaced  
with the image of the cave were Kurama and the  
others were held. From this mirror's vantage  
point Kurayami could see that Utsuro and Hiei's  
battle form above. It was easy to see that Utsuro  
was the victor in this fight even though Hiei had  
yet to fall.  
  
Kurayami knew that Utsuro was taking his time  
with the fire demon, playing with him. He watched  
a few minutes and was impressed with Hiei's  
fighting skill and power, even though it couldn't  
match Utsuro's. Just thinking about Kamen having  
all that extra power sent chills of pleasure down  
Kurayami's spine. He hoped that Utsuro remembered  
that he wanted Hiei to live long enough to see  
Kamen one last time. Kurayami was about to turn  
away when he saw Hiei make a false step. Utsuro  
took the opening and used his whip to blind Hiei's  
Jagan.  
  
Kurayami heard a scream and the fire demon  
fell to his knees. Hiei's right arm was still  
ablaze with his Ensatsuken and his left hand was  
holding the gapping opening in his forehead.   
Kurayami was surprised to realize that it wasn't  
Hiei that had yelled out in pain, but the woman  
behind him. He turned and was fascinated to find  
black blood oozing from between Kamen's fingers.  
  
The unnatural blood flowed down Kamen's face  
along with some sort of milky white fluid.   
Kurayami turned back to the mirror and saw the  
same was true for Hiei. Now, more than ever, he  
knew that he had to eliminate Hiei. The fire  
demon was so entrench into Kamen's heart and mind  
that she had actually a physical bond with him.   
  
"Kurayami!" Kamen screamed behind him.  
  
Kurayami went to Kamen's side quickly and  
knelt so that he could hold her. Before he had a  
chance to wrap an arm around her shoulders, Kamen  
grabbed the front of his shirt. The black blood  
smeared on the smooth material as she yanked his  
face closer to her own. Kurayami looked into  
Kamen's panicked eyes and saw the Herculean effort  
she was making to fight the illusions that were  
raging inside her. Despite using his powers to  
their fullest, Kurayami couldn't brake through the  
intense fear that Kamen was feeling from another,  
deeper source.   
  
"Kurayami, you have to help me. There's  
something wrong with Hiei. I have to find him,  
Kurayami. Please help me." Kamen gasped out as  
she fought to keep her wits about her.  
  
Kurayami looked at her face and saw that the  
blood had stopped flowing, but the trails that it  
had left went down either side of the bridge of  
her nose. Some of the blood had made its way into  
the corners of her eyes and then fell down her  
cheeks as if she were crying black tears. There  
was no cut, or opening on Kamen's forehead and  
Kurayami was left to wonder where the blood could  
have sprung from. He tenderly stroked her face  
and then swept the strands of Kamen's hair, that  
had drifted into the sticky mess, behind her ear.  
  
"What are you taking about Kamen? What  
happened to you?" he questioned her, hoping to  
distract her.  
  
"There's something *very* wrong with Hiei,  
Kurayami. I have to help him. I have to find him  
now!" Kamen demanded as she twisted his shirt in  
her hands.  
  
"Kamen, you are in no condition to go  
anywhere right now," Kurayami said comfortingly,  
as he stroked her arms, "You don't understand how  
weak you are right now."  
  
Kamen's face twisted into a dark scowl that  
made Kurayami stop his comforting motions and pull  
his hands away. She slowly rose to her feet and  
forced Kurayami to stand with her. Kamen pulled  
and twisted the shirt in her hands until the  
fabric at the sleeves started to rip under the  
strain. Once standing she lifted him an inch off  
the floor and glared at him above her head.  
  
"No, *you* don't understand! I have to find  
him NOW!" she growled deep in her throat as her  
eyes took on a golden glow behind the deep green.  
  
At this moment Kurayami knew that Kamen could  
kill him in an instant with little effort. She  
had become everything he had ever wanted,  
powerful, deadly and beautiful, and if he played  
all his cards correctly she would be his.   
Kurayami schooled his features, calmed his nerves  
and gave Kamen his most sincere and gentle smile.  
  
"All right, Kamen. We'll find Hiei, but you  
have to stay here."  
  
Kamen twisted the shirt tighter and Kurayami  
fought the need to cough with the pressure on his  
ribs.  
  
"Whoa! Listen Kamen! I'll send servants to  
look for Hiei, OK. That way you won't waste time  
looking all by yourself."  
  
Kamen continued to glare at him while she  
thought the suggestion over. Her eyes softened  
and she lowered Kurayami to the floor. Now that  
her adrenaline rush had worn off Kamen leaned  
towards Kurayami in exhaustion. He folded his  
arms around her shoulders and pulled Kamen close.   
  
"Thank you, Niichan. Thank you," she  
whispered into his rumbled shirt.  
  
Kurayami stroked the back of her head and  
silently called back the entities he had placed in  
her head. From Kamen's ears, small, jet black  
slugs inched and slimed their way to Kurayami's  
hand. Once they where all removed she slumped in  
Kurayami's arms like a poorly constructed rag  
doll. He lifted her into his arms and walked the  
short distance to the bed. He laid her down and  
left the room, and quickly returned with a basin  
full of warm water and a cloth.  
  
Kurayami washed all the blood from Kamen's  
face, arms and hands, listening to her ragged  
breathing. She had drifted into a light slumber  
that was plagued with nightmares not of his  
making. Kamen twisted and writhed on the bed  
moaning Hiei's name as if in great pain. Kurayami  
left the room with the blacken water to find out  
what was happening with Hiei and Utsuro's fight.  
  
After giving the basin to the nearest servant  
he activated one of the mirrors on the wall. When  
the image solidified, Kurayami saw Utsuro's final  
blow slice through Hiei's windpipe and spray blood  
from one side of the room to the other. Before  
the blood had a chance to hit the sickly green  
barriers, Hiei's small form had hit the ground,  
lifeless.  
  
With and angry hiss Kurayami stop the image  
and hurriedly made his way to the only exit from  
that cave. The instant Utsuro entered the hallway  
Kurayami landed a back handed strike to the long  
slash on the youkai's cheek. Hiei's body hit the  
floor with a muffled thud when Utsuro put his hand  
up to his reopened wound. Kurayami fought the  
desire to puke when Utsuro's eyes filled with hurt  
tears.   
  
"You fucking idiot! What the hell do you  
think your doing?!" Kurayami screamed as he bent  
to retrieve Hiei's fallen body.  
  
Utsuro tried to make a whimpering reply, but  
stopped when Kurayami glared at him cruelly. The  
ebony haired youko checked to make sure that  
Hiei's soul was still in attendance before picking  
him up.  
  
"You are damn lucky that he isn't completely  
dead yet, moron. Now go get cleaned up and then  
met me in my chambers."  
  
Kurayami didn't bother to see if Utsuro heard  
him before he quickly made his way down the hall.   
Kurayami looked down at the small body in his arms  
with disgust. The only good thing Utsuro had done  
was to destroy the fire demon's body enough that  
no about of intervention on Kaman's part would  
ever help. Kamen wasn't a healer by any stretch  
of the imagination, but she could give her own  
youki to help speed the healing. The intense  
damage that had been inflicted on Hiei's body was  
beyond Kamen's ability to help.  
  
Kurayami stopped at his door and peeked in to  
see if Kamen was still asleep. He was not  
surprised to find her sitting on the edge of the  
bed shivering as if cold. Now that Hiei's body  
was no longer functioning, the bond the two of  
them shared was broken and Kamen was feeling the  
void of his death. Kurayami made sure that his  
face showed great sorrow and hid the glee he felt  
at being so close to his goal. He slowly entered  
the room and held Hiei's limb body close as if it  
was his own child.  
  
"Kamen.... I am sorry.... I..." Kurayami said  
with a false catch in his throat.  
  
Kamen turned her head towards him and she  
started to frantically shake her head as huge  
tears spilled down her cheeks. They landed on the  
dark, green velvet vest and stained it a shade  
darker. The closer he came to Kamen the farther  
she would retreat on the bed. She kept repeating  
the word 'no' over and over again in a voice of a  
young, frightened child as she fled the gruesome  
sight. Kurayami stopped at the edge of the bed,  
his head down cast and alligator tears falling  
from his eyes.  
  
"I'm sorry, Kamen. I thought you would want  
to say good-bye. I'll take his body away to be  
buried. If that is all right with you?" Kurayami  
said, fumbling around his words as if he was  
nervous.   
  
The change in Kamen was almost immediate,   
Kurayami could see her physically take charge of  
her emotions and steel her resolve. Kamen  
straitened her shoulders and savagely wiped the  
tears from her eyes. She scooted to the edge of  
the bed where he stood and held out her arms.  
  
"Give him to me." she said, her voice  
cracking only slightly.  
  
"Kamen, I don't think that's.."  
  
"GIVE HIM TO ME!"   
  
The command shook the room and the power that  
Kamen keep so carefully guarded flared out to cast  
multi-colored swirls of light on the walls.   
Kurayami didn't think twice about refusing her,  
and handed Hiei over. As soon as the fire demon  
was in her arms, Kamen's power reduced back to  
it's normal level and the room looked dark and  
empty in comparison.  
  
Kamen held Hiei's face so that it was nestled  
in the crook of her neck and rested her chin  
against his cheek. Her pale skin was once again  
smeared with blood, but this time it was not her  
own. She started to rub his back as if she could  
coax the dead fires inside Hiei to life again.   
Kurayami moved forward intending to speak when he  
heard Kamen's gentle laughter filled with tears.  
  
"All right, Hiei, I think your little joke  
has gone on far enough, don't you? Look... I'm  
sorry I ever said you were cute. If you want I'll  
say your the ugliest thing I've ever seen, but  
please open your eyes."  
  
Kamen adjusted her hold on Hiei and brought  
him closer to her chest. More tears were falling  
from her face and landing on the fire demon's  
body, washing some of the blood and grime from his  
skin. When Kamen saw this she tried to rub the  
offending wetness from Hiei's cold skin, but all  
she ended up doing was making a mess.  
  
"Look at me. Crying like some kind of damn  
idiot!" Kamen said in a strangled laugh as she  
fought back more tears.  
  
Kamen pulled Hiei away from her and gave a  
startled gasp when his head rolled back, revealing  
his slit windpipe. Kamen's entire body began to  
shake as she repositioned Hiei's head so that the  
gapping hole in his throat was sealed. With  
trembling hands she touched every part of the fire  
demon's face, trying to rub the blood and dirt  
away.  
  
Kamen suddenly shifted positions and placed  
Hiei's still form on the white silk sheets. She  
put a pillow behind his head so that his neck  
would stay closed and then hurriedly left the  
room.  
  
Kurayami just stood there, trying to reason  
why she left, when Kamen came back with the same  
basin that he had used to wash the blood from her  
body. A white cloth floated on top of the water  
as it sloshed back and forth, spilling over the  
edge onto her bare feet. She placed the bowl in  
the middle of the bed and then crawled in beside  
Hiei.  
  
Kamen washed all signs of battle from the  
fire demon's cool skin, until the water turned  
black and was useless to cleanse with anymore.   
The hardest part of the whole procedure had been  
cleaning around Hiei's blinded Jagan. No matter  
how much she tried to clean the area it still  
slowly oozed blood. Finally she just ripped a  
strip from the bedding and bound the open wound  
tightly. She had to wrap the cloth around his  
forehead several times so that the blood would not  
soak though.  
  
Kurayami had to admit that under Kamen's  
tender care Hiei almost looked like he would wake  
up at any moment. Even though his body was  
covered with deep cuts and lashes Kamen had gone  
to great pains to make sure that each one was  
clean and pressed closed. The only thing left  
that detracted from the fire demon's handsome body  
was his charred right arm. Kamen had carefully  
avoided that area, knowing that if she touched it  
too much the skin would crack and spilt. She  
ripped another, longer strip of silk from the bed  
and started to slowly criss-cross the material  
along Hiei's arm.   
  
Kurayami suddenly felt the presence of a  
young lady he had skillfully avoided for many  
centuries. Death was in the room with them right  
now, and if he wanted to avoid her taking Hiei's  
soul to the Reikai then he had to work quickly.   
Kurayami knew that Botan was a sentimental fool  
and would not interfere with Kamen and Hiei just  
yet, so he played his trump card.  
  
"Kamen, there is a way that you can keep Hiei  
around you know," he gently whispered, knowing  
that Kamen would soak up every word.  
  
Kamen had stopped her wrapping for a moment,  
but started again much more slowly.  
  
"How?"  
  
Kurayami smiled to himself and tried to keep  
his voice from sounding too excited.  
  
"You could take his soul into your own. It's  
not too late," he coaxed gently, not wanting to  
push her too hard.  
  
"I couldn't..." she whispered as she finished  
covering Hiei's arm with the white silk.  
  
"Yes you could, Kamen. Think about it. When  
his soul is taken to be judged the very best he  
could hope for with his past record would be  
reincarnation and then everything that he was in  
this life would be lost. But if you take his  
soul, he could be the same as he always was, and  
he would be with *you* and safe from Kurama."  
  
As Kurayami uttered his lies, Kamen slowly  
stroked the side of Hiei's face. Kurayami knew  
that she was at lease considering doing as he  
said, but needed some more incentive.  
  
"Kamen, Hiei would always be with you, and no  
one would ever be able to take him away from you.   
He could never be hurt again, and you would never  
be alone again."  
  
"Never alone... " she echoed hollowly.  
  
Kurayami knew that he had her hooked on the  
idea now. All that was left was for the 'kiss'  
and Kamen would possess all the power that was  
held inside the fire demon's body. Kurayami  
couldn't help but step closer in excitement as  
Kamen leaned forward, nearly touching Hiei's  
forehead with her own.  
  
"Please leave, Niichan," Kamen whispered in  
such a soft voice that Kurayami wasn't sure if she  
actually spoke.  
  
"Please, I need to be alone with him."  
  
Kurayami gave in to Kamen's quiet plea and  
exited the room, closing the door behind him. He  
knew that he had done his best to convince Kamen  
that taking Hiei's soul was what she wanted to do.   
Now all he had to do was sit and wait for her to  
actually do it. Kurayami smiled to himself as he  
thought of how easy it had been. Kamen was so  
afraid of being alone that she would do *anything*  
to not be that way again.  
  
He knew that almost everything he told her  
was a lie, but it had worked. He knew that once  
Kamen took Hiei's soul that the only thing that  
would survive would be his power. Everything else  
would be lost, his personality, his memories,  
everything that made him who he was. Hiei would  
cease to exist, but by the time Kamen figured that  
out it would be too late.  
  
Kurayami waited impatiently for what seemed  
like an eternity for something to happen within  
the room he had just left. When he was sure he  
would go insane, Utsuro came down the hall. The  
boy had washed his blue-green hair and had changed  
into a fresh outfit, identical to the one he had  
been wearing earlier. Kurayami barely gave him a  
glance and nodded his approval. He heard Utsuro's  
sigh of relief and wished that Kamen would hurry  
up.  
  
As if on cue, Kurayami felt a sharp increase  
in power in the room. It was so intense and  
mentally blinding that even Utsuro with his  
S-class strength winced at it's magnitude. A  
golden light, so bright it appeared nearly white,  
shown from underneath the door. Kurayami could  
hear footsteps approaching the entranceway and he  
stepped back, preparing to shield himself from the  
light. The light suddenly faded and the door  
slowly creaked open to reveal a very different  
Kamen than the one he had left in the room.   
  
Kamen's petite, human beauty had been  
transformed into the tall, willowy shape of a wild  
youko. She was at least a foot taller now with  
her slender, sloping ears adding to her height.   
Kamen's knee length gold tresses had changed to  
the golden red Kurayami remembered from her  
childhood. Kamen had securely entwined the gently  
waved mass into a tight braid, bound to the back  
of her head with her ever present headdress.   
  
For a moment Kurayami could not believe his  
own eyes. It was beyond his power to reason that  
Kamen had taken on the mantel of a her youko form  
when he knew she hated it so much. But he could  
not ignore the sharp talons that tipped every  
finger, the delicate ears that scanned all  
directions for sound, or the long, bottle brush  
tail that lashed behind her, whipping from side to  
side, in tune with her emotions. Her cold, hard  
youko eyes were still a deep green, but Kurayami  
swore he could see a fleck or two of deep red at  
the edges.  
  
Her clothes had also changed from the very  
revealing velvet costume to an outfit appropriate  
to her current state. The loose, black pants that  
she wore cuffed at her ankles and disappeared  
under a long, sleeveless black tunic. A sash of  
deep, purple-red adorned her waist, clenching the  
fabric of the tunic close to her shapely body.   
  
On Kamen's left forearm was her dagger in its  
gleaming metal sheath. The simple, elegant weapon  
seemed inappropriate to complete the promise of  
death in Kamen's eyes. The armband on her other  
forearm, however, *was* death and so much more.  
  
The right side of Kamen's face was lit by the  
unearthly black fire that encircled her right arm.   
Tongues of flame flicked out from under the gray  
metal and licked their way along the armband's  
surface. The once passive dragon, that had been  
etched onto the warm metal, writhed on the  
confides of its surface prison. The black, scaled  
creature clawed at the carefully crafted edges, no  
longer content to be an ornament to be admired.   
Its red eyes glowed with same fire that seemed to  
burn under its glossy scales, outlining each tiny  
plate in crimson.  
  
Kamen turned her attention directly towards  
Kurayami, and he didn't know whether to be  
frightened or not. No emotion showed on her stone  
face as her glaring eyes focused on him.   
  
"Where is he?"   
  
Kurayami was too stunned to answer. He knew  
that Hiei's power would change Kamen some, but he  
had no idea that she would be effected this much.   
The fire demon's youki had taken over much of  
Kamen's psyche and had influenced her conscious  
thinking. Kurayami wasn't sure if he liked this  
situation at all.  
  
"Where is Kurama, Kurayami?" she asked again  
as she took a step closer.  
  
Wordlessly Kurayami pointed down the hall to  
where the entrance of the cave was located. For a  
moment he wondered if he should make up an excuse  
for why Kurama was in the compound, but Kamen  
didn't seem to care. She was so blinded by rage  
and engulfed by grief that she couldn't think of  
anything else but killing Kurama.  
  
As Kamen slowly made her way down the hall,  
towards the object of her hatred, Kurayami spared  
a glance into the room. Hiei laid where Kamen had  
left him, his skin a pale blue and his body stiff  
with death. Kurayami was mildly amused to see  
Botan crying over the dead fire spirit, and  
wondered how well she had known him.  
  
Kurayami turned from the door and followed  
Kamen down the hall. There would be plenty of  
time later to remove the empty shell that was  
littering his and Kamen's bed, but right now he  
planed on witnessing the warm, loving reunion of  
Kamen and her beloved Yuurei.   
===================  
end chapter 20  
  
Here's another chapter. Is it just me, or are these  
chapters getting longer and longer? ^_- Anyway I hope you  
like! (Hell, I hope you still remember the storyline.) 


	21. twenty-one

*Warning* Sappyness and hinted Kurama and Hiei romance. Stop now  
if your sickened by either one!  
  
  
  
  
Broken Mask   
Chapter 21  
written by Kat(Aubuchon)Mayes  
  
  
Kurama sat in the exact same spot Yuusuke had  
placed him when he had collapsed. He remained  
motionless and unseeing, giving his loyal  
companions the impression that he was still in  
deep, mindless shock from Hiei's death. Yuusuke  
and Kuwabara looked at each other worriedly  
knowing that Hiei and Kurama had a special  
relationship that couldn't be explained in simple  
friendship terms. They feared that their  
remaining friend's mind had completely shut down  
over the loss of the other, but nothing could have  
been farther from the truth.  
  
Inside Kurama's mind a war of thoughts, ideas  
and memories was raging. They were all fighting  
to be heard, all demanding to be known and to be  
felt, but they were too much for Kurama's fragile  
state of mind right now. Kurama tried to hide  
from his thoughts, tried to forget them within the  
endless void that was his troubled mind, but no  
matter how far he buried himself they came. They  
hunted him like a pack of wild dogs after a  
wounded animal. In desperation, Kurama found a  
dark corner of his soul, well hidden from the  
rest, and crouched there in silent, consuming  
misery.  
  
Hiei was gone.   
  
It was all his tortured mind could think of,  
all his heart could stand in this lonely, empty  
place. Hiei wasn't just missing, he wasn't just  
away from him in the Makai, but gone, lost to him  
forever. There was no denying it, no way to  
ignore it. Kurama had known the instant Hiei's  
soul was no longer on this plane. It was the same  
moment his world shattered and fell apart.  
  
How could that fire demon have gotten that  
close to his guarded heart without him realizing  
it? How could someone as mean tempered and rough  
as Hiei have worked his way so completely into his  
soul? More importantly, how was he ever going to  
live without him?  
  
Kurama curled tighter inside the darkness and  
willed his life to stop. He didn't want to try  
and go on without that fire demon there to make  
every day brighter with his half hearted  
complaints and grumbling. Kurama didn't want to  
imagine a world where Hiei's silent company was  
absent. He had a dreadful feeling that he *had*  
tried before, lifetimes ago, and would be doomed  
to a long, lonely life without him.  
  
"It hurts, doesn't it? Having the one you  
love torn away from you. Believe me, I've been  
there before," a quiet voice behind him said,  
breaking the circle of Kurama's thoughts.   
  
"How did you find me?"  
  
Yuurei gave Kurama a look that asked his  
human form if he was stupid and then walked over  
to him.  
  
"You can't hide from me, Kurama. We are the  
same person, only in different forms. The youko  
side of us is here also, but he's just going to  
wait for you to make up our mind."  
  
Kurama started to back away from the  
intrusion of his other selves, but then he  
stopped. "What do you mean, 'make up our mind'?"  
  
"I mean that even though the youko and I have  
a say in what happens to us, you have the ultimate  
control over our human body. I've came to change  
our mind about dying," Yuurei glanced over his  
shoulder and scowled, "and he just came to watch."  
  
Kurama looked over in the same direction and  
saw the silver glimmer of his youko self reclining  
against an invisible wall. Youko Kurama barely  
opened his golden eyes to acknowledge the pair in  
front of him. With an almost evil smirk he  
dismissed them and closed his eyes again.  
  
"I really don't give a damn about this human  
body we got stuck with so its death is no concern  
of mine. If it dies over that sexy little fire  
demon then we'll have our youko body back that  
much faster. If the human body lives and goes  
after the cute blonde we've become infatuated with  
we're only side tracked a few measly decades.   
Eventually, either way, I'll have control again so  
I don't care what happens."  
  
Yuurei glared at the self satisfied youko,  
while Kurama cringed at the coldness of his voice.   
Kurama knew that was how he used to be all the  
time before he was born as Shuuichi. He knew that  
somewhere along the line he had changed his  
attitude and his outlook on life, but he had never  
realized that such a large part of him still was  
the cold, heartless bastard he once had been.  
  
"Ignore him, Kurama. He doesn't mean half  
of what he says. If he truly didn't care, he  
wouldn't even bother to be here."  
  
Youko Kurama opened his eyes again, but this  
time they weren't controlled and emotionless. He  
glared at Yuurei with an almost palpable hate then  
looked off into the distance. Youko Kurama tried  
to continue looking bored and unaffected by the  
kitsune's words, but his taloned fingertips dug  
into his folded arms and his silver tail lashed  
behind him, betraying him.  
  
"I don't care *why* you're here. Just go  
away and leave me alone," Kurama said, his voice  
cracking slightly remembering his recent loss. "I  
don't want to live, there's no reason for me to  
live anymore."  
  
The soft fur on the back of Yuurei's neck  
fluffed out with his annoyance at Kurama's  
complete dismissal. With great force of will the  
kitsune didn't scream out and thrash his human  
self, that would accomplish nothing. He knew that  
every moment he wasted here gave Kurayami more  
time to work on Kamen's fragile state of mind.   
  
With a fox's grin that rivaled his youko  
persona's evil smirk Yuurei adjusted his strategy.   
He had been saving this as a last resort, because  
once it was done he would no longer be able to  
invade this human body's consciousness. Once he  
summoned all his memories, gave them to Kurama to  
share, and received Kurama's in return, he had no  
say on what those memories would mean to them.  
  
A small part of Yuurei was worried about  
this. What if Kurama's feelings for Hiei were  
stronger than his feelings for Kamen? What if  
after sharing his memories of Kamen and all that  
they had felt for each other Kurama still wanted  
to die? Yuurei couldn't imagine loving someone  
else as much as he loved Kamen, but he also had  
never seen someone dying with grief. It was a  
chance he had to take.  
  
"All right, Kurama. I'll leave you alone,  
but before I can do that we have to be totally  
integrated," Yuurei told him as a wooden chest  
with gold hinges appeared.  
  
"That contains all the memories I've  
accumulated since our separation. You should have  
a very similar one for me."  
  
Kurama stared curiously at the small chest  
before he placed his hand upon the polished lid.   
He started to reply that he didn't know what  
Yuurei was talking about when a small black  
lacquer box materialized in his empty hand. With a  
slightly bewildered look on his face, Kurama  
handed the box over to his kitsune side. Youko  
Kurama gave a disgusted snort that drew both of  
their attentions.  
  
"I'm not going to sit here and watch the two  
of you torture each other," the silver youko said  
with a hiss as he push away from the non-existent  
wall. "I'd rather us die then watch the two of  
you moon over them. Just remember, when I resume  
control we are *never* falling in love again."  
  
The youko dissolved into the darkness leaving  
his two counterparts to stare after him. Stunned  
by the bitterness in the youko's voice Yuurei  
nervously looked at the tiny black box in front of  
him. Whatever was inside would change his life  
forever and both of them knew it. As a show of  
good faith Yuurei opened his box first, and  
immediately wished he hadn't.  
  
The transfer of memories was instantaneous.   
Once the box was opened Yuurei had no time to  
think before he could remember. He felt his heart  
constrict and the tears start to flow before he  
could stop them. His whole body ached with  
bittersweet longing for the fire demon that no  
longer lived. His lungs hurt from the force of  
effort it took to not sob his grief out loud.   
  
Now he knew why Kurama was so willing to let  
this life slip away from him. The pain was nearly  
unbearable, equaling that which he had felt when  
Kamen had been lost to him. Now the choice to  
live or to die was not so clear to him. Hiei had  
been their world, their reason to live in the  
Ningenkai and this body. He looked into Kurama's  
face for an answer to the pain, but there was  
none.  
  
Yuurei felt himself fading back into the  
recesses of the mind he shared with Kurama and the  
youko, returning to his proper place as a part of  
the person known as 'Kurama' personality. As he  
started to lose all sense of his unique identity  
he thanked the gods that he was not the one forced  
to chose between Kamen and Hiei. He hoped that  
maybe one day in a future lifetime they could be  
together again, but something told him that this  
had been their chance and now it was gone.  
  
Kurama watched the kitsune fade from sight  
and with trembling hands Kurama pulled the wooden  
chest in front of him. He didn't want to open it,  
but he knew that if he didn't he would never find  
peace. He had seen the look of anguish in  
Yuurei's kitsune face as he received the contents  
of the lacquer box. For a moment Kurama was glad  
to share his grief with someone, even if it was  
himself. For those brief moments Yuurei had  
realized the scope of his... no, *their* feelings  
for Hiei, but behind that shock was something  
else.   
  
Kurama had seen surprise and regret. The  
surprise he could understand. Even he had been  
stunned by the size and force of his feelings for  
Hiei. The regret, however, unnerved him.  
  
Wanting this experience to be over quickly,  
Kurama opened the chest. The lid opened easily,  
moving on well made hinges. Kurama expected some  
kind of sudden rush of images and information like  
he experienced the first time he and Yuurei had  
come together, but nothing happened. Kurama  
almost felt betrayed by the lack of response, then  
he had the sudden sense that something inside was  
calling to him and he had to take it out.  
  
He carefully placed his hand inside and  
probed the smooth bottom of the chest and pulled  
out the object he knew to be there. At first he  
was surprised to see the small mandolin, because  
Kamen had accidentally broken it a long time ago,  
but then he smiled. He caressed the slender neck,  
running his fingers over where she had engraved  
her name.   
  
He had 'acquired' the mandolin after Kamen  
had heard one of the few minstrels in the Makai  
playing in a village fair. For the first time  
since he had known her Kamen had actually sat  
still for more than thirty seconds. He could  
still see the look of astonishment and surprise  
when he had given the mandolin to her. It had  
been worth the patch of fur he lost off his back  
scrambling through the window stealing it from the  
minstrel for her.  
  
Kamen had created the most beautiful melodies  
from this little stringed instrument after she had  
taught herself how to play. Soon she started to  
put words to the music and her voice could be  
compared to angels. Many nights he had pretended  
to be asleep so that he could listen to her sing.   
His favorite song was about a man, all in black,  
with a heart of fire.  
  
Kurama laid the mandolin down, careful not to  
harm it and hurriedly reached back inside. His  
fingers searched around until he felt a flat,  
slick piece of wood. His face became puzzled as  
he tried to reason what it was. It revealed  
itself to be a small wooden comb carved out of  
black soapwood. Kurama gave a sigh as he turned  
the badly fashioned comb in his hands. Kamen had  
been five when she made this comb to pull the  
burrs from his tangled fur.  
  
It had taken her a week of not so secret late  
nights to carve it from the slippery wood. Kamen  
had apparently gotten tried of his complaints of  
having sticky burrs in his fur and decided to do  
something about it.   
  
She had cut herself more than a few times  
when the slick wood had slipped from her chubby,  
child's hand, but she had been determined to make  
it for him. As it turned out, the choice of the  
soapwood had been ideal. The burrs and tangles  
seemed to slide right out when she used it. The  
comb had been her first birthday present to him.   
In fact it had been the first one he had ever  
received.  
  
Kurama reached back inside the treasure chest  
and eagerly anticipated what he would find next.   
He fumbled around the bottom, but could find  
nothing. He frowned slightly and ran his fingers  
along the outside edge. He smiled triumphantly  
when he felt a thin piece of fabric hiding there.   
He looked at his prize and the smile slipped from  
his face.  
  
Dangling from his fingers were two long  
ribbons of silk. Each one was the color of golden  
wheat, and when they were in Kamen's hair they  
could barely be seen. They were the ribbons Kamen  
had stolen from the human woman Shiori on the  
night that she had come to the Ningenkai to kill  
him in his sleep.   
  
Kamen had come that night to take Shuuichi's  
life because he had taken hers. It would have  
been a fair exchange, but Kamen had realized that  
Shuuichi's death would have caused her mother  
great pain, so she had taken these ribbons as a  
reminder of what she could never have. She had  
pulled the scrapes of silk from the nightstand as  
the house slept.  
  
Kurama clutched the ribbons in his fist and  
damned them for what they represented. They were  
a symbol of the pain that he had caused Kamen.   
They were a reminder of the secret he had to keep  
from her. They were the silk chains that had  
bound him against telling her how he had really  
felt about her. Every time he had worked up the  
courage to tell her he would see those damn  
ribbons in her hair and he'd falter.  
  
Again he felt the pull of the chest and the  
new object inside. With all his might he tried to  
resist, he didn't want to know what else the chest  
held for him. Against his will Kurama reached  
into the box for the fourth and final time. His  
trembling fingers immediately found what he  
thought was a bundle of sticks. As he ran his  
hand along the perfectly smooth, round shafts he  
felt rough steel bite into the soft flesh of his  
palm.  
  
Before Kurama had the chance to pull the  
object out, the wooden chest disappeared, leaving  
him holding a bundle of arrows. He clenched them  
so tightly in his hand that the wooden shafts  
groaned and creaked under the pressure. Kurama's  
hands began to tremble even worse than before when  
he realized that they were the same arrows that  
had brought Kamen so close to death that one time.  
  
Her blood was still on them, aged to a deep  
rust color that stained the gleaming arrow tips a  
dull red. He could even see the marks along the  
shafts where he had tried to gently pull them out  
with his teeth.  
  
They were the arrows she had taken for him.   
She had thrown away her life to protect him from  
his own foolishness. Up until the moment when she  
had turned to him, the stolen dragon whip in her  
outstretched hand, arrows sticking out of her tiny  
back, he had believed that he could resist the  
temptation of falling in love with her. What a  
fool he had been.  
  
Kurama tried to swallow around the thick lump  
in his throat but he couldn't. There had been so  
many times that he had wished to have arms instead  
of paws so that he could hold her. He had cursed  
himself for not being able to rock her until the  
tears and the pain stopped. Kamen had known so  
little comfort in her life, even from him, but she  
had always been stronger than him in so many ways.  
  
He had been afraid of her, of the feelings he  
had for her and those she had for him. He had  
known that she loved him more than she should  
have. He had known that, despite her young age,  
she had decided that he was her heart. He had  
thought about pushing her away or finding someone  
else for her to become attached to, but the  
thought of anyone else touching her drove him  
crazy. There just wasn't anyone good enough for  
her, including himself.  
  
How could that little youko child have gotten  
that close to his guarded heart without him  
realizing it? How could someone as willful and  
belligerent as Kamen have worked her way so  
completely into his soul? A small voice within  
gave a laughing reply: 'The same way Hiei did.'  
  
Confusion, deep and brooding, set into  
Kurama's mind as he tried to separate Kamen and  
Hiei in his feelings. Both of then aroused deep  
emotion in him unlike any thing he had felt  
before. His feeling ran deeper than love or  
friendship. There simply were no words to  
describe what he felt for them. He knew that if  
either one of them were lost to him that it would  
leave a hole in his soul that could never be  
repaired or replaced.  
  
He felt all consuming pain now knowing that  
Hiei was dead and beyond his reach, but unlike  
before when he had been ignorant of Kamen's  
influence he knew that he could go on living only  
if she was there to help him. Unfortunately  
Kurayami was making sure that would never happen.   
The thought of losing both of his dearest friends  
to that bastard set Kurama's body into motion  
almost before his mind was ready.  
  
"Whoa, Kurama! Settle down!" Kuwabara  
squawked as he was thrown backwards by Kurama's  
sudden movement.  
  
Kurama looked down at his friend sprawled on  
the stone floor of the cave and the look of  
anguish worry on his face. He tried to give  
Kuwabara a grin of apology, but the effort was too  
much. Right now Kurama was emotionally drained  
and couldn't even think past trying to find Kamen  
before it was too late.  
  
"We have to find a way out of here. We have  
to find Kamen quickly," Kurama informed his  
friends as he made his way to the far wall.  
  
Yuusuke and Kuwabara exchanged a worried  
glance, but followed their comrade. Kurama turned  
from the wall to give them instructions on how  
they would proceeded when he felt a familiar  
presence. His eyes reflected the same shock that  
Yuusuke and Kuwabara displayed.  
  
Kurama's heart stopped and waited for the  
presence to come closer. He knew it was  
impossible, he knew that Hiei was dead, but he  
could feel the fire demon coming towards them.   
All three of them waited in silence for Hiei to  
appear, hoping that this wasn't some kind of  
illusion.  
  
As the presence got closer the walls and  
ceiling that Kurama had previously weakened  
started to rumble under the power. Waves of youki  
rolled into the room from the other side of the  
wall, making them step away. An invisible door  
was outlined in a pale gold light.  
  
Kurama suddenly realized that it wasn't Hiei  
that he felt coming, but Kamen. As the wall  
started to disintegrate Yuusuke and Kuwabara came  
forward to flank him on either side. The sense of  
doom that had permeated every pore of Kurama's  
body was finally realized when the stone barrier  
gave way and he could see the look in Kamen's  
eyes.  
  
Kurama was struck dumb with awesome power  
that radiated from Kamen's changed body. This was  
the first time that Kurama had ever seen his  
former friend in her natural youko form. Kurama  
looked past the beauty of her body and the strong  
feeling seeing Kamen like this gave him, and saw  
the hate in her emerald eyes. Kamen's whole  
presence crackled with it, fueling the waves of  
power that oozed from her fingertips.  
  
Kurama felt his hopes of recovering Kamen's  
love die. How could he ever get past the lies and  
deceptions Kurayami had waived around her? How  
could he possibly reach Kamen's tortured heart  
when she felt so much hate towards him?  
  
As Kurama slowly approached his one time  
partner and friend, all he could think about was  
the pain Hiei's death had caused him. He couldn't  
possibly lose Kamen to this madman too. He *had*  
to get through to her. He *had* to make her  
understand, make her see that Kurayami was her  
enemy, not him. He had to try, or his life  
wouldn't be worth living.   
  
======  
end chapter 21 


	22. twenty-two

Broken Mask  
Chapter 22  
by Kat Mayes  
  
  
Somewhere inside Kamen there was a creature  
that could think and reason. Somewhere inside  
this young woman there was a voice that pleaded  
with her to stop, begged her to listen to the  
truth that was inside her heart. Somewhere inside  
this hurting soul love and hope were dying and  
thriving at the same time. Somewhere there was a  
time when Kamen was alive, but that 'somewhere'  
and is now gone, leaving only an empty hole.  
  
The demons that drove Kamen were killing her,  
pushing her well beyond her limits. But it was  
those same demons that were keeping her alive long  
enough to complete what she was there for. The  
love she bore for Hiei was ripping her soul apart  
with grief and agony, but she would not die until  
'he' was dead. She could not die until Hiei had  
been avenged, until her promise was fulfilled.   
  
Kamen was completely focused on Kurama's  
beating heart and the rage that filled her at the  
sound. Every thump of her enemy's heart drove her  
farther and farther over the edge into insanity.   
It beat out a strong healthy rhythm, while Hiei's  
heart was still and cold within his chest.  
  
As she walked down the corridor towards her  
target, Kamen heard the thumping and pumping get  
louder and stronger. When she was standing behind  
the last barrier between herself and Kurama she  
heard the accursed thing stop and then start  
pounding furiously. An empty smile curved her  
lips.  
  
Summoning only a fraction of the power she  
possessed Kamen crumbled the wall that kept her  
from her objective. It was only when she stood  
directly in front of the bastard that had torn her  
entire life apart that she gave a thought to  
anyone else in the room.   
  
Kuwabara and Yuusuke were standing on either  
side of Kurama as if to protect him. All three of  
the boys' eyes were wide with awe and wonder, but  
Kamen didn't care. She had only one thought and  
one goal, to kill Kurama, and *no one* was going  
to stand in her way.  
  
"Step away from him," she commanded them, and  
the walls shook.  
  
Kuwabara and Yuusuke jumped at the sound of  
her voice, high shrill and deafening like a  
twisting monsoon. Instead of moving away, the two  
honorable friends stood by the deceiver Kurama.   
Kamen did not give them a second warning or time  
to react and with only raising her eyebrow she  
sent them flying backwards.  
  
The two of them went in different directions,  
Kuwabara screaming his head off and Yuusuke  
fighting furiously to gain control. Before they  
could be crushed against the wall, however, Kamen  
stopped their flight and placed them gently on the  
ground.  
  
"Kurayami, make sure Kuwabara and Yuusuke  
stay out of this. I don't need them getting in  
the way."  
  
Kurayami grinned back in response before  
sending his servant after Yuusuke and following  
Kuwabara himself. Satisfied that her friends were  
taken care of, Kamen focused all her attention on  
Kurama.  
  
It surprised her only momentarily that her  
enemy was in his youko form as she was. It was  
wise of the fox demon to take on his strongest  
form to fight her even though it would do him no  
good. Kamen was only a B-class youkai, but with  
all the power she had stored up over her short  
eighteen years from Mukuro, Hiei and even Yomi  
there was no way he could stand against her.  
  
All these years Kamen had been saving her  
power not as a weapon but as a defense. She had  
never hungered for power or dominance. All Kamen  
had ever wanted was to live her mortal life in  
peace. She had used her powers only once and  
quickly found out that her body had a natural flaw  
that kept her from ever being able to survive  
using it.   
  
After that day she promised herself that she  
would never use her powers except to defend those  
she cared about. Now she had nothing to live for,  
nothing to defend, so she would release the power  
she had been born with. The ability to use any  
youkai's power that she had ever come into contact  
with, and she had contact with a lot of A and S  
class youkai.   
  
Even now she was slowly dying, but that  
didn't matter to her. All she wanted was to kill  
the one that had mortally wounded Hiei. She had  
promised Hiei that the one that had made both  
their lives a living hell would die by her hands  
before she died herself. It was a promise she had  
every intention of keeping.  
  
Kamen faced Kurama with only one fear in her  
heart. She knew that she would die before the sun  
set on this day, but would she have enough time to  
destroy Kurama? She had no doubt that she could  
kill his body, but could she stop him from hurling  
his soul into another unsuspecting body? Could  
she destroy him before he had the chance to hurt  
anyone else?  
  
Suddenly Kamen was pulled from her thoughts  
by a light touch on her arm. Her eyes locked on  
Kurama's long, slender fingers where they rested  
on her bicep. A spark of what felt like pure  
electricity race up her arm and jolted her into  
action. Kamen summoned an orb of purple flames  
into her palm and quickly shoved it towards  
Kurama's stomach.  
  
The silver fox demon had no time to speak as  
the ball of dark fire hurled him towards the far  
wall, between where Kuwabara and Yuusuke had  
landed. Unlike the other two Reikai detectives,  
however, Kurama was not going to be given a gentle  
let down. Kamen watch as her advisary summoned  
his own power and created a net of vines that  
caught him and sprung him back from where he had  
come. With a graceful twist and flip, Kurama  
landed in almost the exact same place he had been  
thrown from.   
  
"Kamen, please listen to me. This isn't what  
you think it is. I didn't kill Hiei," Kurama  
begged.  
  
Kamen wondered if living 400 years old gave  
Kurama the ability to be such a good actor.   
Without gracing her enemy with a reply, Kamen set  
the floor around them up in flames and sealed off  
the area around them with a bubble so there was no  
escape. Kurama screamed and tried to cover his  
face from the fire that blazed around him. Kamen  
felt her demonic fire start to burn her clothes  
away and melt the skin on her feet and ankles.   
Even though she could use Hiei's fire powers she  
was not a fire demon and therefore not immune to  
it's heat.  
  
Kurama summoned a tree to root and grow  
beneath Kamen's feet which threw her off balance  
and off guard. The flames that she had called  
forth died once her concentration was broken and  
her bubble disapated. Quick as a thief, Kurama  
tackled Kamen to the ground as she began to rise.   
He slammed her hard enough against the ground to  
knock the wind out of her, but not to harm her.  
  
"Kamen, you have to listen to me. I'm not  
the one that killed Hiei. It was Utsuro, at  
Kurayami's order. Kurayami is behind all of  
this!" Kurama insisted as he held a slightly dazed  
Kamen to the ground.  
  
"Do you honestly expect me to believe that?!   
Kurayami raised me, he protected me when I was  
shunned by all others. He would *never* do  
something like this to me!"  
  
"He would and he has, Kamen. Kurayami has  
been manipulating you from the moment you were  
born. He raise you so that he could control you.   
He sold you to Yomi to brake your spirit and he  
killed Yuurei and Hiei so that you would have no  
one else but him to turn to."  
  
"LIES! All of it is lies! Kurayami didn't  
do all of those things. YOU DID! You stole my  
life and when I finally made a new one you killed  
it!" Kamen screamed at the top of her lungs.  
  
As Kurama's and Kamen's argument gained in  
volume and hostility Kamen lost some of the  
control she had over her powers. Dragons of black  
magic fire walked across the floor, snaking their  
way around the room, attacking anyone that was  
close enough. The entire cavern took on a golden  
glow as Kamen's control slipped even farther in  
her fury and bolts of golden eletricity danced  
around the cave.  
  
"Kamen, I *was* the one that took your place  
in that human body, but by the gods I swear that I  
have regretted it every moment of every day since  
it happened. Kamen I would never do anything  
intentionally to hurt you. You are a part of me.   
You are my only reason for living now that Hiei is  
gone. Kamen, I..."  
  
"LIES!"   
  
Kamen's body arched where she was pinned to  
the ground. Her skin was illuminated with  
blinding golden white light. The emerald of her  
eyes was completely washed out in the gold light.   
The glow was so bright that Kurama's eyes were  
blinded temporally. He had to let Kamen go so  
that he could cover his eyes and block out the  
light.  
  
Kamen did not bother to collect her power  
into a single point or weapon and instead she  
released a wave that radiated out from her.   
Kurama was thrown straight up to the ceiling at an  
alarming rate. With no time to react, Kurama was  
jammed onto the jagged, sharp stalagmites hanging  
there.  
  
The stench of burning flesh hung in the room  
and Kamen tried to clear her throat of it. She  
opened her eyes and realized that it was her own  
skin that was giving off the offensive smell. She  
tried to rise but the crushing pain in her chest  
stopped her. Kamen had broken most of her own  
ribs and half collapsed her right lung.  
  
Kamen tried to calm her frayed nerves as she  
laid motionless on the floor, shuting her eyes  
tightly. She had totally lost control at Kurama's  
taunting soliloquy. Every word he had spoke had  
been like a knife twisting in her gut, not because  
of what he had said but because she had started to  
believe him. Somewhere inside her there was a  
part of her that trusted him, believed him, even  
loved....  
  
Kamen felt something warm and wet drip on her  
forehead and then slide down the bridge of her  
nose. Carefully she opened her eyes and saw that  
Kurama's body was still tacked to ceiling by  
stalagmites. His blood was dripping from the  
pointed rock that was jutting out of the left side  
of his chest and falling onto her body. Identical  
protrusions in the fox demon's right arm and leg  
held him where he was.  
  
In the distance Kamen could hear the sounds  
of a major battle rocking the fragile insides of  
the cave, but she ignored it. Right now all her  
energies where focused on one person. Kamen  
waited for something to happen too tired to move.   
From this far away she couldn't tell if Kurama was  
dead or alive, but she was unable to go after him.   
Kamen had the power to easily destroy a Quest  
class demon, but her body was unable to sustain  
it.   
  
Suddenly the dripping increased to a gentle  
flow mixed with chunks of rocks and Kamen was  
forced to move aside. Kurama had awaken and was  
pulling himself loose from his stony prison.   
Kamen gathered her strength and shot a bolt of red  
youki at her chosen enemy through her arm. Her  
shot went wide, however, when the power she let  
loose ripped the flesh from the tip of every  
finger of her left hand.  
  
The blast missed Kurama by inches, but it  
finished what he had started by braking away the  
stalagmites that held him. Like an immortal cat  
with infenant lives, Kurama landed safely on the  
ground by using a huge, red flower, turn up-side  
down, to slow his desent.  
  
Kamen struggled to her feet, cradling her  
left hand to her stomach and Kurama seemed no  
better off. He was barely able to stand, but  
somehow he pulled all his strength together and  
launched his biggest attack. Kaman had no time to  
retaliate as Kurama called forth vines from deep  
in the ground to ensnare and trap her.  
  
The black vines wrapped and quickly anchored  
both of her legs and then snaked their way up her  
body. They held her arms to her sides with a  
crushing grip that made it almost impossible to  
breath. As extra insurance that she could not  
move the vines twisted their way into Kamen's  
carefully bound hair and broke it loose for its  
golden headpiece. Once her long braid was free  
and dangling against her calves, the demonic  
plants weaved themselves inside the golden twists  
of hair and stayed.  
  
"Kamen, *please* stop this! I don't want to  
fight you! Can't you see who I am, little one? I  
couldn't have killed Yuurei. I *am* Yuurei."  
  
Kamen's head turned sharply away like she had  
been hit, even though her head was held painfully  
tight. Kurama continued to talk to her  
soothingly, but Kamen could no longer understand  
his words. She suddenly realized that Kurama's  
voice, his tone, his manner were all the same as  
Yuurei's. His eyes, his hair were identical to  
the kitsune that had been her companion for most  
of her life.  
  
The memory of Yuurei slowly dying in her  
arms, his blood coloring everything became vivid  
in her mind. She could almost feel Yomi's drugs  
cursing through her veins, trying to make her let  
go of her friend, her love. Her own frantic voice  
from the past echoed in her ears, begging Yuurei  
to live, and to not leave her.  
  
Kamen wanted to cover her ears to stop the  
sounds of her screams as Yuurei died, knowing that  
she was unable to help him. She tried to block  
out the memory of Hiei laying cold on the bed,  
knowing that she would ever see him in this life  
again.   
  
Above the sounds of her screams and pleading,  
one voice cried louder than the others. Kamen  
could hear Kurayami's voice clear inside her mind  
telling her who was to blame for her misery, who  
destroyed her life. When Kurama touched her  
shoulder, Kamen could not contain her rage.  
  
Using the power she had been born with but  
never able to control, Kamen forced herself free  
from the organic prison Kurama had trapped her in.   
When she tried to move towards him, her head  
jerked backwards because of the vines still  
entangled there. Beneath the arm band Hiei had  
give her, Kamen formed a blade forged from her  
pain and fury. She was completely lost to her own  
memories, lost to the voices in her head.   
  
Kamen used the blazing sword on herself and  
cut her hair, at the scalp, to free herself. The  
severed hair, entwined with black vines, fell  
towards Kurama and he reflexively caught it. It  
was almost comical to Kamen to see the complete  
shock on Kurama's face as he looked at the bloody  
hair in his hands.   
  
Kamen had actually cut a part of her scalp  
away when she had severed her hair from her head.   
She could fell the blood running down her back and  
legs as she slowly approached Kurama with a  
predatory gleam in her eyes. Kamen pulled the  
stunned Kurama close to her so that their lips  
almost touched and with all the hate she felt  
burning within her, Kamen drove her flame sword  
deep into her enemy's belly.  
  
The entire world faded and dropped away,  
leaving only Kamen and Kurama. Kamen looked at  
her advisary through what hair she had left and  
her feral grin slipped from her face. Tears were  
flowing down Kurama's face from his pale golden  
eyes, making clear tracks in the dirt. The fox  
demon slipped his hand that held her braid into  
the short curly lock of hair at the side of her  
face and ran his fingers through it.  
  
"You had once promised me that you would  
never cut your hair, but I think that you are  
beautiful no matter how long it is," Kurama  
whispered to her.  
  
Kamen's heart stopped and her skin turned  
cold as ice. Kurama smiled at her and then kissed  
the tip of her nose. Kamen did not resist when he  
slipped his hand behind her neck and pulled her  
closer. His lips lightly brushed her ear as  
Kurama whispered his final words.  
  
"I have a present for you little one. I had  
once promised you that one day, when I got all my  
powers back, I would give you one of these."  
  
Ever so slowly, Kamen pulled away from Kurama  
so that she could see what he had in his other  
hand. Just above where the burning sword was  
buried into his stomach, Kurama was holding a fire  
lotus.   
  
A small gold fire burned within the virgin  
white petals, illuminating the small space between  
herself and Kurama. Kamen remembered the first  
time she had held this exotic flower. She had  
captured it as way to impress Yuurei, but after  
she had caught it she felt sorry for it and let it  
go.  
  
Kamen could still remember the way she had  
broken the glossy black leaves, making the magenta  
sap stain the pure white of the petals. The  
leaves of the flower she held now were also  
broken, but this time the flower wasn't bleeding  
on itself, but on the man in front of her. Just  
above where Kurama's own life's blood was flowing  
out of him his white tunic was colored a deep  
magenta.  
  
Kamen had no words to speak and no feeling at  
all. Calmly she extinguished her sword and Kurama  
slumped towards her. She caught him and gently  
placed him on the ground. Kamen swept Kurama's  
long silver hair away from his peaceful face. She  
laid his hands over the hole in his stomach to  
conceal it from view.  
  
Slowly, Kamen turned away from Kurama and  
made her way towards the others in the cave. She  
gently caressed the soft petals of the fire lotus  
and unknowingly left bloody fingerprints on the  
them. Blindly, Kamen walked to Kurayami weaving  
her way around large boulders in her way and  
stepping over dents in the ground she couldn't  
even see.  
  
Kamen placed her hand on Kurayami's shoulder  
just as he was about to strike Kuwabara, who was  
unconscious on the ground. Her long time mentor  
stopped suddenly an turned to face her. Kurayami  
saw her standing beside him and he totally forgot  
about the human.  
  
"Kamen, your back! Did you kill Kurama? Are  
you all right?" he asked with excitement  
practically glowing in him.  
  
Kamen looked confused for a moment. She  
looked down at the flower in her hands and saw the  
red and magenta blood that would never wash off,  
and she smiled. Kamen reached out her hand and  
pulled locks of Kurayami's long black hair from  
behind his ear so that it would lay on his chest.  
  
So slowly, that it seemed like she wasn't  
moving at all, Kamen closed the distance between  
herself and Kurayami and placed her head on his  
chest. Kurayami wrapped his arms around her and  
hugged her tightly and Kamen returned the gesture,  
but when he let go she did not.  
  
"You were always with me, weren't you  
Nichan?" she whispered.  
  
"Yes, always."  
  
"You always were the one that wanted me.   
More than anyone else."  
  
"Yes, little one. I will always want you."  
  
"You wanted me for everything you could make  
of me, everything that you could gain from me.   
You wanted me for everything than I'm not, and  
everything that I could never be."  
  
Kurayami tried to pull away from her, but  
Kamen held on tightly. The fire lotus in her hand  
was crushed. The fragrant blossom's gentle fire  
had gone out, and its deep magenta blood was  
dripping through Kamen's fingers and running down  
her arm. Kamen buried her face into Kurayami's  
hair, tears flowing unchecked down her cheeks.  
  
"My name is a lie. My face is a lie. My  
soul is a lie. My life is a lie. Everything I am  
is a lie, a beautiful and twisted lie. Anything I  
have ever thought or felt or done is a lie, but  
that's OK because I'm not real."  
  
Kamen closed her eyes and let every barrier  
that blocked her awesome power down and let it  
flow unhindered. She was instantly blinded by her  
own power and the only sound she heard was  
Kurayami's screams. A sad smile curved her lips  
as she realized that her life of lies was finally  
over, and that her confuse existence was at an  
end. She only hoped that Hiei would forgive her  
for what she had done for the sake of lies.  
=========  
end chapter 22 


	23. twenty-three/end

Broken Mask  
Chapter 23  
written by Kat Mayes  
  
It was cold, so incredibly cold. He could  
almost remember standing on an icy cliff, in the  
storm driven rain, with the wind blowing so hard  
it whistled as it passed by him, but this was much  
colder. It was the kind of cold that made you  
forget that warmth ever existed. It was the chill  
of death, and he knew it.  
  
He had expected death to be a little quicker  
than this. Someone had told him once that a  
messager had shown up almost immediately to guide  
souls to their final place. Maybe he was expected  
to find his own way to the Reikai, but that didn't  
seem right. He had no arms, no legs, no body and  
he was floating in a void. There wasn't even  
blackness were he was, just awareness. Empty,  
lonely awareness. Maybe this was his Hell.  
  
"I once wrote a song about a man like you."  
  
Wait... he knew that voice. Who was it? He  
knew the soft voice that was pulling at him. It  
was so familiar and so warm.  
  
"He was like a raging fire. I sung of how I  
could stand in the distance and see his power,  
strength and beauty from afar. I sung of how I  
longed to be near him if only for a moment."  
  
The voice was right beside him, no... inside  
him. He could hear her in his head. She was  
apart of him. She had always been apart of him.  
  
"I sung of how I sat beside him and felt his  
warmth. I let it wash over me, envelope me and  
cherished every moment, but then I longed to touch  
him."  
  
An almost undetectable warm breeze brushed  
across his face, warming him like nothing else  
could. He could smell her scent, her life. It  
was the only thing he had left to hang on to.  
  
"I sung of how I touched him and of how he  
burned me. I would sing about how in that brief  
touch I could feel his life, touch his soul and  
his heart. Then I longed for more."  
  
He felt a tingle somewhere in the region of  
his heart as he heard her speak, but he was  
confused. How could he feel anything if he was  
dead?  
  
"I also sung of how I tried to contain him,  
to control him, make him apart of me so that only  
I could possess him. He started suffocate and  
die, like fire in a glass box. I sung of how  
foolish it was to capture fire and make it your  
own. Maybe I wrote that song about you, Hiei."  
  
She had said a name, and suddenly he realized  
that it was his. All the events of the past few  
days came rushing back. The voice he was hearing  
was Kamen's, but how could he hear her... he was  
dead. Hiei could feel the tingle that started in  
his heart spread through his body, warming him,  
chasing away death.   
  
"Kurayami is right. The only way that I  
could ever keep you forever would be to take you  
inside me, but that would slowly kill your soul.   
I would never do that to you. I would never put  
you in a box of glass. You need to be free, even  
if that means that I will forever be alone."  
  
For the second time since he had meet Kamen,  
she kissed him. It was similar to the first kiss  
in that he could feel his body reviving, but  
somehow it was more intense. It was almost like  
she was pouring everything that she was into that  
kiss. There was no hidden meaning behind what she  
was doing, no masked intentions. Hiei felt life  
flood back into his cold body and with it came an  
awareness of what Kamen was doing, and he screamed  
silently against it.  
  
"I hope that one day you will forgive me for  
what I'm doing Hiei, but Kurama will never stop  
haunting me until he's dead. I know your  
honorable heart will feel guiltily that I'm giving  
you my life, but I can't allow you to die the way  
Yuurei did, by my enemy's hand."  
  
Hiei struggled futilely to speak, to move, to  
do anything to let Kamen know that he could hear  
her. He needed to tell her the truth about  
Kurama, about Kurayami, about his feelings, but he  
knew that it was already too late.  
  
"You are the guide of the dead, aren't you?"  
Kamen asked the person in the room that Hiei  
hadn't been aware of.  
  
"I am," Botan answered in a wary and awed  
voice.  
  
"You have seen what I have done and you know  
that I have the right to trade his fate for mine."  
  
"Yes, you have the power to give up your life  
for him. But... how could you have known that?"  
Botan asked bewildered.  
  
"I don't know how I know, but it is the  
truth, right?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
Hiei was screaming inside, but no one seemed  
able to hear him. He kept yelling for Botan to  
stop Kamen, to keep her from doing something so  
foolish. He couldn't let Kamen do this! She was  
throwing her life away because of Kurayami's lies.  
  
"Do you understand the penalty for trading  
your life for his?" Botan asked Kamen, and Hiei  
could hear the rustle of her silk kimono as she  
came closer.  
  
"I will die painfully, slowly and experience  
a death a hundred times worse than the one that I  
was destined for. Yes, I understand the  
consequence of my actions, but I wish to ask a  
favor of you."  
  
"What?" Botan asked, sounding startled.  
  
"I would ask only that you not come for my  
soul until I have killed the person that has done  
this. I do not wish to die until I have avenged  
Hiei, Yuurei and myself. Will you do this for  
me?"  
  
"I will wait as long as I can, but it isn't  
me that you have to worry about, it's Enma-sama.   
You have given your soul to him and he will decide  
when he will take it and how."  
  
"That is fair enough."  
  
Hiei felt like he was trapped inside his  
worse nightmare. Kamen was dying, killing  
herself. He knew that it was true, because the  
closer she came to dying the more he lived. Every  
tiny breath he took was like a nail in Kamen's  
coffin and there was nothing that he could do  
about it.  
  
Kamen picked him up off the bed and enveloped  
him in a hug, probably the first one that he  
willingly wanted to participate in. She was  
slowly powering up, inch by inch knocking a hole  
in the wall that dammed up her god like powers.   
He felt her change in his arms and something that  
he was quite sure was a tail, rubbed against his  
arm and chest. Kamen kissed his cheek and then  
laid him back on the bed.  
  
"I know that you can hear me Hiei. I want  
you to know that you and Yuurei were my only  
loves. The two of you are my heart and my soul,  
and I will love you both eternally. Hiei, I want  
you to tell Yukina who you are. Life is too short  
to put the people you love at arm's length. Trust  
me, I know from experience."  
  
Hiei heard Kamen leave and all he could do  
was lay there and let her go. At this very moment  
Kamen was on her way to kill the closest friend  
he had ever had, and killing herself in the  
process. In one single blow the two most  
important people in his life were going to die and  
there was nothing he could do about it.   
  
------------  
  
Hiei had no idea how long he had been  
unconscious but he immediately knew that he was  
still mostly dead. He looked over to the bed were  
Botan was methodically healing his breathing body.   
He glanced down at himself and saw only a ghostly  
image.   
  
"Botan?"  
  
The guide of death stopped her healing and  
turned to face him. Her eyes were red and swollen  
from crying and her cheeks glistened with tears.   
She tried to smile for him, but she failed  
miserably.  
  
"Where is she Botan?! Where is Kamen?" Hiei  
demanded.  
  
Botan's face fell completely and she had to  
turn away to hide her falling tears. "It's  
already too late, Hiei. Kamen is dying, there's  
nothing anybody can do to save her now."  
  
"Then reverse what she did! Trade my life  
with hers!" he yelled while he walked closer,  
intending to shake some sense into the girl in  
front of him.  
  
"Hiei, you don't understand. It is her right  
to change your fate. There are things you don't  
know about her. She has the power to change  
destiny. I have no jurisdiction over her choice.   
What is done, is done. I'm sorry Hiei."  
  
"NO! You listen to me! Kamen is going to  
kill Kurama and that damn fox won't defend himself  
against her, I know it. I have to stop her! I  
need my body back... now!"  
  
"But... your body isn't healed yet! If you  
try and go after Kamen now you might die, and then  
her sacrifice would mean nothing," Botan pleaded  
with him.  
  
"You've already told me that it's too late to  
save Kamen and now your telling me that I have to  
lose Kurama too. If both of them die there won't  
be much left for me to live for."  
  
"What about Yukina?"  
  
That caught Hiei off guard. He still  
remembered the way Kamen had begged him to reunite  
with his sister. For as long as he could remember  
Yukina had been all he had to keep himself going.   
At one time all his life had been was searching  
for her, protecting her, then he had met Kurama.   
A red-head teenage human with the soul of a 400+  
fox demon.  
  
Kurama had taken him completely by surprise.   
He had never met anyone like him before. The  
friendship between them was instantaneous, even  
though Hiei had fought it tooth and nail. There  
was something about Kurama's coy smile, that  
seemed so innocent, but held a lifetime of lies,  
pain and loneliness that had a hold on Hiei that  
he couldn't explain. As Shuuichi, Kurama had  
finally found a way to put his past behind him and  
make friends, and he had taught Hiei to do the  
same.  
  
Kurama was more than simply a friend, but  
Hiei had never dared think more about it. Yuusuke  
and even Kuwabara were friends that Hiei knew that  
he could trust with his life, but only Kurama  
could truly understand him. Hiei trusted Kurama  
with his feelings. He had told that fox more  
about himself than he had told anyone else.   
  
Then he had met Kamen. He felt like he had  
known her forever. It was funny, but the very  
first moment that he had met Kamen, Hiei felt like  
he had finally found a part of himself that was  
missing. Kamen could read his every emotion like  
no one else, not even Kurama. The two of them  
were so important to him not because they were his  
friends, but because they helped him defined his  
existence.  
  
Botan was right, Kamen had told him to find  
Yukina and tell her the truth, but he knew Yukina.   
She would tell him to follow his heart and do what  
he felt he must.  
  
"Put me back into my body, Botan. Now!"  
  
"I can't Hiei! Kamen made a deal... her life  
for yours. You can not live until she is dead.   
That is the rules!"  
  
"Who has the right to make a rule like  
that?!"  
  
"Actually, my Father does."  
  
"Koenma-sama!" Botan gasped as her employer  
walked out of the shadows.  
  
"Damn it, Koenma! I need my body back. I  
have to stop Kamen before she kills Kurama. I  
have to convince her to take back what she said.   
Koenma, I can't let her die like this!"  
  
"Hiei... ," Koenma began in a soothing voice,  
but stopped when he saw Hiei's venomous glare.  
  
Koenma's eyes narrowed and Hiei could see  
that the tall godling was using all his willpower  
to not strike him. Hiei followed the prince of  
the Dead as he approached his body and watched as  
Koenma pulled out his ridiculous pacifier. He had  
never seen Koenma so upset before as he pointed  
the powerful thing at him.   
  
"Ok... go on... find Kamen, watch her skewer  
Kurama to the wall... watch her soul be eaten away  
with despair, sorrow and guilt... watch her die  
painfully thinking that she has betrayed everyone  
she has ever loved. Go on Hiei... hurry and watch  
things that you are powerless to stop."  
  
Suddenly Hiei was hit with burning  
electricity and he could feel himself being pulled  
into his prone body. Hiei could feel all the  
places where he was still unhealed and the  
stiffness in his joints that was testament to his  
death. He found it very difficult to breath and  
his heart was pumping at a lethargic rate.  
  
Hiei didn't bother to look at Botan or Koenma  
and immediately started moving down the hall. He  
had barely made it a few meters down the  
passageway that would led him to Kamen when he  
fell to his knees in exhaustion. Hiei's body was  
in no shape to go searching for Kurama and Kamen,  
but he wasn't about to stop now. He forced  
himself to his feet and continued on.  
  
A few steps father and Hiei started to feel a  
little better. By the time he made it to the last  
passageway to the cave his breathing had returned  
to normal and he was moving much easier. Hiei  
moved faster not really understanding the reason  
behind his dramatic recovery until he entered the  
cave.  
  
Kamen stood in the middle of the room,  
surrounded by a bubble of power that fluctuated in  
color from silver to gold to black. In her arms  
she held what looked like the charred remains of a  
corpse. All Hiei could do was stand and stare in  
morbid fascination. The exposed flesh on Kamen's  
arms and face was bubbling up like it was being  
eaten away by acid. The side of her head and the  
insides of her arms that rested against the ashy  
corpse was completely burned away, exposing bone.  
  
Hiei heard a scream to his right and somehow  
he found the power to drag his eyes away. He saw  
Kurama trying to pull his way across the floor and  
Hiei immediately went to his side. He tried to  
pull the fox demon to him but Kurama fought.   
Finally Hiei grabbed each of Kurama's furry, youko  
ears in his hands and forced him to look his way.  
  
Kurama's eyes were wild and crazed and Hiei  
doubted that Kurama could even see him. Kurama  
continued to struggle wildly and Hiei saw that his  
friend was grievously injured and losing blood  
fast because of his movements. Hiei slapped  
Kurama as hard as he dared and the fox demon's  
eyes grew wide and gained a measured of awareness.   
Slowly Kurama focused on Hiei's face, but the fear  
and insanity were just barely in check.  
  
"Hiei?" Kurama asked dazed.  
  
Kurama put his bloody, trembling hands on  
Hiei's face and then slid them down to the fire  
demon's throat. Hiei felt him press down just  
slightly and knew what his friend was searching  
for.  
  
"Hn... Stupid fox. I'm alive... not that you  
look that much better."  
  
"Kamen... where is she?" Kurama pleaded.  
  
Hiei could not met Kurama's eyes and just  
looked away. Kurama kept asking repeatedly were  
Kamen was and Hiei could say nothing. Koenma had  
been right. There was nothing anyone could do to  
save Kamen. She wasn't much more than a breathing  
corpse waiting to die.  
  
Yuusuke and Kuwabara joined them and Hiei let  
them try to console Kurama. The more they tried  
to comfort Kurama the worse he became until with  
surprising strength he pushed all of them aside.   
When the three of them turned to stop him they  
found that he had frozen to the spot.  
  
Kurama fell to his knees a few meters away  
from Kamen in complete shock. The young youko  
girl was in worse shape than she had been in  
before. The corpse was totally burned away now  
leaving Kamen to stand alone. There wasn't much  
left of her skin that wasn't burned away or  
melted. The skin that did remain was oozing  
thick, hot blood. At almost every joint on  
Kamen's body small fissures had opened up and were  
releasing the power that was ineffectually held  
within her body.  
  
Kamen turned her head toward them, but her  
eyes had long since burned away. She reached out  
her hand and pointed to them. Hiei had no doubt  
that she was signaling to him and Kurama, but he  
did not know why. Kamen then pulled her hand back  
to her and placed her hand over her heart.  
  
"You bitch! You killed Kurayami-sama!"  
  
Hiei turn with surprise to find Utsuro  
pulling himself from a very large pile of rocks.   
Yuusuke had done a wonderful job of beating  
Kurayami's lap dog to a bloody pulp, but  
apparently it hadn't been enough to stop Utsuro  
completely. With a scream of rage Utsuro rammed  
into Kamen and the two of them fell to the ground  
with a wet thud. Utsuro sat on top of Kamen and  
raised his arm above his head and Hiei a jagged  
piece of rock the green haired youkai must have  
picked up when they fell. With a downward plunge  
Utsuro buried the stone into Kamen's chest.  
  
It took all three of them to hold Kurama down  
when Kamen screamed out in pain. Utsuro had  
created a gash in Kamen's abdomen from between her  
breasts to down past her bellybutton. The fissure  
that Kurayami's henchman opened started spewing  
power like a fountain and Utsuro was evaporated  
with a sizzling hiss.  
  
Hiei quickly noticed that the volcano of  
youki that was erupting from Kamen's belly was  
increasing instead of burning itself out. He  
tried to pull Kurama away from Kamen's death  
scene, but the youko could not be moved. Hiei  
watched in horror as white hot lava created from  
the intense power started to flow their way. He  
was sure that he and Kurama where going to be  
following Kamen into the Reikai until Yuusuke  
stepped in front of the flow and used his  
substantial S-class power to shield all of them.  
  
All at once the power stopped flowing from  
Kamen's crumpled body and there was a great build  
up of psychic pressure in the room. Kuwabara and  
Hiei stood next to Yuusuke to help re-enforce the  
barrier he had created. Suddenly Kamen exploded  
with the force of Mt. Saint Helens and it took all  
they had to not be blown away.  
  
When it was all over the air was thick with  
dust from the explosion. Hiei could barely see  
his comrades right next to him in the fall out,  
but out of no where a shaft of golden sunlight  
pierced the gloom. Kamen's explosion had ripped a  
hole through the many layers of earth that had  
separated them from the clean mountain air. Now  
there was an opening in the cave ceiling.  
  
Hiei got to his feet and was about to make  
his way over to his friends when a wink of soft  
gray light caught his eye. As the dust cleared  
more he was able to see what had caused the small  
flash of light. From under the rubble of the  
demolished roof a skeleton-like arm with a light  
gray armband with a black dragon protruded  
outward, almost like it was reaching for him.  
  
Hiei couldn't control his feet as they  
carried him forward to the gruesome sight. When  
he saw the fleshless fingers curl and then relax  
he moved faster. Without thinking twice Hiei  
started to remove the large rocks aside.  
  
"Hiei... What are you doing?" Kuwabara asked  
as he moved in behind Hiei.  
  
"Help me," Hiei told the human sharply as he  
threw another rock aside.  
  
Kuwabara asked no more questions and just  
assisted the fire demon. It wasn't long before  
Hiei caught a glimpse of Kamen's gold hair and  
directed Kuwabara as to where to dig. It took  
both Hiei and Kuwabara to move the last remaining  
boulder that hid Kamen from their view.  
  
"Gods, Hiei..." was all Kuwabara could say  
about the sight that met their eyes.  
  
The only thing that made the bleeding corpse  
in front of them recognizable was the short  
strands of golden hair that wafted around her  
mangled face in the slight breeze. Kamen's body  
had only been half uncovered. Below her chest was  
crushed beneath the ceiling that had fallen  
through.  
  
"By god... She's still alive...'  
  
Kuwabara was technically correct. Kamen was  
still alive... a living corpse. She had no sight,  
for her eyes were gone. She had no hearing  
because her eardrums had ruptured and the evidence  
was flowing from what was left of her ears. She  
had no voice because her jaw was broken and her  
windpipe crushed. The only thing Kamen had was  
pain. Hiei remembered what Kamen had said... a  
death a hundred times worse than the one she had  
been destined for.  
  
Kuwabara took off his long white jacket and  
laid it over Kamen, covering everything but her  
face. Hiei would never figure out why the human  
had done that. Maybe Kuwabara had felt sorry for  
the girl, maybe he did it to hide the grotesque  
site from his own eyes, but whatever the reason  
Hiei would always be thankful that he did.  
  
"Come on guys," Yuusuke said as he helped  
Kurama to his feet and brought him over to where  
they crouched. "The rest of this cave is starting  
to fall in. We... have to... Oh, shit..."   
  
"Kamen?"  
  
Kurama slid out of Yuusuke's slackened grasp  
and crawled the short distance to Kamen's side.   
None of them knew what to do as Kurama picked up  
Kamen's skeleton arm and brought her hand to his  
cheek. Kurama's eyes were not sane as he kept  
mumbling to Kamen, rocking back and forth. The  
cave around them gave a tremendous grown and Hiei  
knew that they had no time left.  
  
As gently as he could, Hiei tried to pull  
Kamen's hand from Kurama, but the fox demon held  
on tight. Hiei didn't know how he was going  
separate the two of them until Kamen made it easy  
for him. Somehow she found the strength to pull  
her own hand from Kurama. Instead of moving her  
hand away, Kamen grasped the back of Kurama's hand  
and, with much effort, joined Hiei's palm with the  
fox's.   
  
Using the very last of her will and love,  
Kamen forced Kurama's fingers to entire lock with  
Hiei's. She squeezed her fleshless hand over  
theirs and Hiei couldn't help but respond by  
closing his fingers over hers. That one brief  
moment would live on in their memories forever,  
but lasted but a second. The three of them were  
together.  
  
Kamen's hand fell and landed on the stone  
floor with a sharp, metallic click. Holding on  
desperately to Hiei's hand, Kurama continued to  
talk to Kamen like she could still hear him. Hiei  
felt a cool breeze brush across his cheek, causing  
him to look up. Koenma stood before him in a  
ghostly form that apparently no one else could  
see. In his arms the prince of the dead held  
Kamen's recently departed soul. The image of  
Kamen's ghostly form was whole, complete and  
beautiful. She almost looked like she was  
sleeping.  
  
The cave walls gave one more moan of warning  
and Koenma disappeared with his precious cargo in  
hand. What was left of the ceiling and the walls  
of the cave were starting to cave in around them.   
If they didn't leave now they would be buried  
alive under the mountain. Hiei pulled on Kurama's  
hand that Kamen had given him and yanked the fox  
to his feet.  
  
"I'm not leaving without Kamen. I promised  
her I'd never leave her again... I can't leave  
her... I won't leave her here!" Kurama cried out  
as Hiei started to drag him away.  
  
"She's not here anymore, Kurama. She's  
gone."  
  
"No! You don't understand! She did this for  
us, so that we could live! You don't understand  
what she did!"  
  
For the first time, in a very long time,   
Hiei became truly furious at Kurama. Using their  
linked hands, Hiei bent Kurama's hand back  
painfully making the fox demon cry out. Hiei  
forced Kurama down to his height and glared hotly  
into the fox's pale eyes.  
  
"I know *exactly* what she did, and I have to  
live with it for the rest of my life. Now, we're  
going to get our sorry asses out of here, before  
we destroy everything that she has died for. Do  
you *understand* me?!"  
  
Kurama barely gave a nod of acceptance before  
Hiei started dragging him to the newly formed exit  
to the cave. The two of them made an almost  
comical site: little Hiei leading a lost looking  
fox demon, twice his height, around by the hand.   
Once they were directly under the opening in the  
partially collapsed roof Kurama tried to pull his  
hand from Hiei. The fire demon wouldn't have it.   
He clasped Kurama's hand even tighter making it  
clear that they either jumped out together, or not  
at all.  
  
The two of them leapt to safety using the  
pile of boulders the partial cave had left and  
were quickly followed by Kuwabara and Yuusuke.   
Just as the four of them were a few meters away  
the cave fell in on itself, burying everything  
inside. Now that the danger had passed and he was  
sure everything was safe, Hiei dropped Kurama's  
hand and walked away.   
  
He heard Yuusuke and Kuwabara call after him,  
but he didn't listen to them. He continued on,  
intending to not look back when he heard Kurama  
call to him. Hiei stopped in his tracks, but  
didn't turn around.  
  
"Hiei... I..."  
  
"I know," was all Hiei said before he  
disappeared.  
  
Time passed slowly and painfully for both  
Hiei and Kurama. For weeks Hiei wandered around  
the Makai, trying to make sense of what had  
happened to him. He still didn't know what Kamen  
had meant to him, but he knew she would be a  
presence he would sorely miss. It was only after  
Hiei made peace with himself over Kamen's death  
that the fire demon was able to help his friend.  
  
Kurama was much slower to heal. Days, weeks  
and months went by without Kurama presence in his  
friends' lives. He only left his home to go to  
school and once there he never talked to anyone.   
It got so bad that Shiori called Yuusuke for help.   
None of Kurama's friends were able talk to him or  
comfort him, except Hiei.  
  
Kamen had given Hiei and Kurama an awareness  
about themselves and their feelings that both of  
them were nervous about in the beginning. Kamen  
had shown them the unbreakable link they had and  
made it painfully obvious that they needed each  
other. At first the two of them didn't know what  
to say to each other about this new development.   
So much had changed, but somehow they were the  
same. Silently they came to an agreement that it  
was too soon for them to explore their new  
awareness, and after that was taken care of, the  
old friendship that they had always had resumed.  
  
Maybe someday they would try out the new  
relationship Kamen had made them aware of, but for  
now they were just going to be friends... very  
close friends. Both of them hoped that Kamen was  
looking down at them and was pleased with what she  
saw.  
  
==============  
end?  
-------------------------------------   
  
|\ _,,,---,,_  
ZZZzz /,`.-'`' -. ;-;;,_  
|,4- ) )-,_. ,\ ( `'-'  
'---''(_/--' `-'\_)  
  
~~~~Shh! I'm being creative! 


End file.
